Noting that encroachers of the Indian Railways land in Haldwani in Uttarakhand did not have any vested right to be there, the Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that over 5,000 encroacher families will have to vacate the land for the Railways’ proposed expansion project.A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the Centre and the state authorities to ascertain the eligibility of families residing on the encroached Railway’s land for Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY).It ordered the Nainital Collector, Haldwani Sub-Division Officer and other officials, including members of District Legal Service Authority to visit the area and set up a camp to assist the families occupying the land to fill up forms and complete other formalities for availing benefit of PMAY by eligible families by March 31.The bench asked the Collector and Uttarakhand State Legal Service Authority Secretary to file a status report and posted the matter for further hearing in April.The bench made it clear that the stalemate over encroached Railways’ land cannot be allowed to continue endlessly.On behalf of the petitioners, advocate Prashant Bhushan, said they had been staying in the area around the Haldwani railway station for four to five decades and that the state government had earlier said it would regularise the area.However, the bench said, “It’s public land or to say it’s Railway land — a fact which is not in dispute. You are actually getting a concession for being there. You cannot claim it as a right to be there. You are getting a concession because the authorities slept over the illegalities for years.”According to the Indian Railways, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land on which around 50,000 people, mostly Muslims, reside. Thousands of families are facing eviction from the Railways’ land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area after the Uttarakhand High Court on December 20, 2022 ordered removal of encroachments after giving them one-week notice.On January 5, 2023, the high court’s order was stayed by the top court which had in September 2024 asked the Uttarakhand Government to submit a concrete proposal to rehabilitate 50,000 people residing on the Railways’ land.As Bhushan said the Railways can take only whatever was required or shift the project, the CJI said the court can’t ask the railways to shift the project as it’s for the experts to take a call.On behalf of the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati asserted that an expansion project was needed for the Railways as hills start from Haldwani upwards.Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing some of the petitioners, said there were several religious places in the area and people needed resettlement before being displaced.“Have mercy on these people. They are residing in unhygienic conditions where there is no potable water, electricity and sewage arrangement. Let them decide if they want a house under the PMAY scheme and if there are any impediments, the court will take care of it,” the CJI told Gonsalves.