The Supreme Court on August 28 gave liberty to people affected by a large-scale eviction conducted by the Railways on disputed land at Nai Basti near Krishnajanmasthan at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh to prove their ownership by “adverse possession” of the site in a civil court where their suits are pending.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justices Aniruddha Bose said the petitioner, Yakub Shah, cannot seek relief under Article 32 from a writ court. The plea of adverse possession of the occupants of the land in question has to be proved on the basis of evidence, which only a civil court could do. An occupier of land has to prove continuous possession of the property for at least 12 years to establish a claim of adverse possession.
Mr. Shah, who claims to be residing on the land, had filed the writ petition in the Supreme Court in a representative capacity. Senior advocate Prashanto Sen and advocate Kaushik Choudhury appeared for him in the apex court.
“This is a matter concerning a personal right and cannot be determined by a writ court. It has to be determined by evidence. Suits are pending of the occupants before the jurisdictional civil court. The relief sought in the writ petition here is better examined in a suit. As proceedings are pending, we give liberty to the petitioner to apply to the civil court for relief,” the Supreme Court observed.
The Bench said it has not made any comments on the merits of the case. It left it open for the civil court to determine all points raised in the case.
When Mr. Sen said the Bench ought to direct the Railways not to carry out any further demolitions, advocate Rajat Nair, for the Centre, said Mr. Shah’s property was not even located in the land in question. The Bench asked them to raise the issue in the civil court.
Centre’s affidavit
In its affidavit, the Centre had said the land fell on the side of the Mathura-Vrindavan rail track, which was a “pre-independence era metre gauge track”
The government had submitted that Mathura-Vrindavan was an important pilgrim centre with high footfall. The absence of a broad gauge track compelled pilgrims to change trains at the Mathura junction, and there was an increased demand for direct trains.
It said the project began in June last year. The removal of 135 encroachments were ordered in December 2022. Land plans verified by the tehsildar had proved that the north central railway was the lawful owner of the encroached land.
The encroachers were given due notice under the 1971 Act to vacate the land in 21 days. The eviction proceedings had gone on from April to July, 2023.
The affidavit said the encroachers had been given sufficient time to produce evidence of their title. Notice of the demolition was also published in the newspapers.
