Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court took cognizance of the documents in possession of 43 families living on the banks of the river Bharalu in the city and ordered a stay on eviction notices served to them by the Kamrup (Metro) district administration.
The single judge bench of Justice Manish Choudhury said that the petitioners have been able to make out a prima facie case for interim protection on the basis of the documents regarding their refugee status annexed to the instant writ petition in Case No.: WP(C)/966/2024 and ordered suspension of the eviction notices.
It should be stated that 43 petitioners have preferred the instant writ petition all claiming that they are legal representatives or heirs of persons and successors of persons who were Indian citizens and, after partition in the year 1947, came to India from their erstwhile places of residence in the then East Pakistan [now Bangladesh]. It is the further case of the petitioners that upon migration of their predecessors to India, they were treated as refugees, and the Revenue Department of the State Government allowed them to stay in a parcel of land, covered by Dag No. 815 [old], on the bank of the Bharalu.
According to the petitioners, their families have been staying in the said parcel of land, later renumbered as Dag No. 1682 [new], since the year 1951. The petitioners' counsel also drew attention to an order dated April 19, 1956, of the then Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup, to submit that the said order allowed the refugees or the petitioners' families to occupy the said parcels of land till they were provided lands at other places, subject to the conditions mentioned therein.
The petitioners have stated that they have a bona fide claim to continue in occupation of the parcel of land, covered by Dag No. 815 [old]/1682 [new] on the bank of the river Bharalu, by keeping a distance of 10 feet, as indicated in the order dated April 19, 1956. The petitioners approached the Court after being served with eviction notices, all dated February 13, 2024, by the Circle Officer of Guwahati Revenue Circle, on the ground that the petitioners are encroaching on government land and that in the event the noticees-petitioners do not vacate the said parcel of land, the process for their eviction would be taken under Rule 18[2] of the Settlement Rules in the stretch from Arya Nagar to Chabipul.
The court then expressed the view that the petitioners have been able to make out a prima facie case for interim protection. Accordingly, the court ordered that the eviction notices remain suspended until the returnable date of March 4, 2024.
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