Oral Judgment:

Bharati Dangre, J.

1. The seven Petitioners, claim to be in exclusive use, occupation and possession of certain rooms/units situated on CTS No.10A, Rajeev Gandhi Nagar, S.G.Barve Marg, Kurla (E) and it is the claim set out by them that alongwith them, several other occupants/dwellers have been in exclusive and uninterrupted use, occupation, possession and enjoyment of the respective slums for last several decades. At this juncture only, we must note that though a pleading in the Petition is to effect that there are around 350 slums situated at plot bearing CTS No.10A, Rajeev Gandhi Nagar, but only seven Petitioners are before us.

From reading of the Petition and the reliefs claimed therein, we can infer that the Petition is restricted only to the Petitioners and we would restrict the relief only to them, who are the Petitioners before us.

2. Since arguments are advanced before us for considerable length of time, we deem it appropriate to issue Rule and make it returnable forthwith.

We have heard the learned counsel for the Petitioners, who would submit that the Petitioners, who are in long and continuous occupation of the units/juggis/tenements situated on the aforesaid land, were served with show-cause notices by the Railways somewhere in the year 2022 under Section 4 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 thereby calling upon them as to why an eviction order should not be made against them. Some of the specimen notices are placed on record.

The Petitioners are also further served with the notices by the Railway Authorities, directing them to remove the unauthorised structures with the following subject :-

                    “07 days notice for removal of unauthorized structure between Kms.15/400 16,200 to Kms. 20.00 on Kurla-Trombay Line.”

The notice reads thus :-

                    “During inspection by the Railway staff, it was found that you have constructed unauthorized structures on Railway land at above said location without taking Railway’s permission These structures are affecting the safety of track as well as causing obstruction in the smooth working of construction of infrastructures being carried out for Railway development.

                    You are hereby called upon to remove the said unauthorized structures situated on the said railway land and handover peaceful possession of the said laid to the Railway Administration within 07 days from the date of receipt of this notice, failing which the Railway Administration shall be forced to get the same removed as per law, at your cost and consequences thereof, which please note.”

3. The Petitioners have approached this Court raising a challenge to the aforesaid notices by placing heavy reliance upon the decision from the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Utran Se Besthan Railway Jhopadpatti Vikas Mandal Vs. Government of India & Ors., where the Special Leave Petition was filed raising a challenge to the order passed by the High Court in a writ petition, espousing the cause of the petitioners in Public Interest Litigation in regards to the occupants of the structure occupied by the concerned persons on Railway property, when the petition came to be rejected by the High Court.

The Apex Court, specifically noting that the structures were standing on the Railway property and the only plea before it was to provide suitable rehabilitation in lieu of the premises occupied by the concerned persons on the Railway property, formulated a scheme to be followed in the backdrop of the fact that the Railway wanted to put to use the said land and it was responsible for not protecting its own land, as it was encroached, which posed a hazard for the Railway activities.

Heavy reliance is placed upon the said directions and the learned counsel for the Petitioners would submit that they expect the Railway as well as the Collector and the Authorities, which are indicated in the said order to follow the same pursuit.

4. As we have already indicated that we will restrict the Petition to the Petitioners, we have also called upon the learned Government Pleader Mrs.Anjali Helekar, representing the Collector, to factually assist on two aspects, as there was some conundrum, as to whether the Petitioners were squatted on the land belonging to the Railway or that of the private persons.

Mrs.Helekar returned back with specific instructions to the effect that the Petitioners have squatted within the buffer/safety zone of ten meters and the land belongs to Railway.

Similarly, she does not dispute that in consonance with the directions issued by the Hon’ble Apex Court, the Collector, Mumbai Suburban, had conducted a meeting on 26/05/2026 with the presence of the Additional Collector and the Officers of the Railways and have issued necessary directions to the Chief Executive Officer, SRA as well as the Municipal Corporation (the Local Authority) directing them to take necessary steps in relation to the removal of encroachment on Kurla Trombay track, which involve the Petitioners.

5. The learned senior counsel Mr.Govilkar, representing the Railways, by relying upon the directions issued by the Hon’ble Apex Court, would submit that since the Petitioners are squatted within the ten meter buffer/safety zone and though the Petition is restricted only to the seven Petitioners, the notices have been issued by the Railways to various encroachers, who are falling within the ten meter buffer/safety zone as well as the land adjoining, which belongs to the Railways, which measures approximately 35 to 40 meters right from the railway track. According to him, the encroachment is posing great difficulty for the activities of the Railway and certain photographs, being placed before us, clearly reflect how deplorable the situation is. According to Mr.Govilkar, such encroachment not only create obstruction in the smooth activities of Railways but also endanger the life of the persons, who are dwelling in the said hutments. He is under instructions to make a statement that an exercise was carried out by issuing notices to the Petitioners as well as to the other encroachers in the year 2022 and the Railway would undertake the exercise of issuing fresh notices clearly in terms of the directions issued by the Apex Court following the procedure preceding thereof, but it is imperative for the encroachers to vacate the premises within the time-line, which is stipulated in the said notices or else with the assistance of police from local police station, they shall be liable to be removed.

6. We have perused the directions issued by the Hon’ble Apex Court, when it was confronted with a similar issue in form of the structures, which were standing on the Railway property and in the background fact that they were the rank encroachers, the Apex Court considered their plea of providing suitable rehabilitation in lieu of the premises occupied by them on the Railway property.

A reading of the said order would reveal that the blame was sought to be put on the local Authority for the encroachment, but the Apex Court, in the clear words, expressed that it was also the responsibility of the Railway to keep its land free from encroachment and only the local Authority cannot be blamed for that. However, it deemed necessary to issue appropriate directions for providing support to the persons likely to be affected by the removal of their structures following the decision of the Apex Court in Ahemadabad Municipal Corporation Vs. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan((1997) 11 SCC 121) and we deem it appropriate to reproduce the said directions:-

                    (i) The respondent - Western Railways do immediately issue notices to the occupants of the concerned structures which are falling within the belt which is required immediately for commencing the remaining project work by giving two weeks' time to the concerned occupant (s) to vacate the respective premises;

                    (ii) In respect of the remaining land owned by Railways, even though it may not be immediately required for the project, similar notice be given to the occupants of structures standing thereon by giving six weeks' time to vacate the respective premises;

                    (iii) In either case (i) and (ii) above, the notices be issued within one week from today and if the occupants fail to vacate the unauthorized structure, it will be open to the respondent - Western Railways to initiate appropriate action to forcibly dispossess them and to demolish or remove the unauthorized structure (s) by taking assistance of the local police force. The Superintendent / Commissioner of Police of the concerned area shall ensure that adequate police force is deployed on the site and surrounding areas including to provide protection to the officials / staff engaged in the demolition of unauthorized structures and to facilitate them to commence the eviction process and demolition of the unauthorized structures, referred to in the eviction notices on the specified date and time;

                    iv) Before commencing the process of eviction and removal of the structures, the Collector of the concerned District must ensure that necessary details about the names and number of persons occupying the concerned structure, including their identity and profile should be duly recorded, which record should be preserved by the Collector for considering the eligibility of those persons for being provided suitable residential accommodation after being evicted owning to proposed demolition action;

                    (v) The entity, who is the owner of the land, namely, Western Railways in this case as well as the local Government and the State Government shall be jointly and severally liable to pay a sum of Rs. 2,000/- per month per demolished structure for a period of six months from the date of demolition of their structure as ex-gratia amount to the head of the family/occupants of the concerned unauthorized structure removed during demolition action. That amount shall be initially paid by the Collector for a period of six months "only" (not beyond six months each) and shall be later on shared equally by the entity (owner of the land), local Government and State Government;

                    (vi) In the event, the local Government has any rehabilitation scheme, the affected persons may apply for being rehabilitated under the said scheme, if eligible and subject to verification of eligibility and complying with all other terms and conditions of the prevalent scheme. The local Government may provide them suitable residential accommodation in lieu of rehabilitation owing to demolition of their structure.

                    (vii) If no rehabilitation scheme has been formulated by the local Government or is in force, the persons likely to be affected by the action of demolition can apply for allocation of residential premises under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Scheme, which application be processed not later than six months from the date of its receipt and taken to its logical end, application-wise within such period.

                    (viii) Be it a case of rehabilitation under clause (vi) or (vii) above, the persons affected by demolition action by the Authorities cannot insist for allotment of alternative residential accommodation at the same place from where they have been evicted (as it is not in situ rehabilitation programme). The eligible persons be allotted accommodation wherever available in the same or even in neighbouring districts.

                    (ix) In addition, since the Railways have power to initiate civil/criminal action against the unauthorized occupants on the Railway property, must resort to those proceedings against the concerned persons immediately after it is brought to the notice to the concerned official of the Railways.

                    Further, the Railways being the owner of the property, as also the local Government and State Government must initiate appropriate action against the erring persons, including the officials of the concerned establishment for allowing and tolerating such encroachment and for not taking corrective action of removal of encroachments in right earnest and at the earliest opportunity.

                    (x) The status report of the action taken by the Railway Board as also by the local Government and State Government be furnished to this Court before the next date.”

7. The learned Government Pleader also placed before us a Judgment delivered by this Court in a group of writ petitions, the lead petition being Writ Petition (L) No.4938 of 2026 (Rajo Ransingh Tak Vs. The Union of India acting through the Western Railway Administration & Ors.) pronounced on 26/02/2026. We find that the Division Bench of this Court followed the dictum laid down by the Apex Court and directed the notices to be issued for removal of those structures situated on the Railway land, clearly following the dicta in case of Nawab Khan Gulab Khan (supra), directing the petitioners to vacate the writ premises within a period of 60 days and directing forceful eviction in case they fail to remove the structure(s) with the assistance of Superintendent/ Commissioner of Police.

On the lines of the Hon’ble Apex Court, it was also directed that before the commencement of the process of eviction and removal of the structures, the Collector should adopt the necessary procedure and after a survey, maintain a record for considering the eligibility of the persons for being provided suitable residential accommodation after being evicted owing to proposed demolition action.

8. With the pronouncement of the Hon’ble Apex Court and the order passed by this Court in Writ Petition (L) No.4938 of 2026, the pursuit to be followed by us, is clearly visible to us and in light of the pleadings before us and the contentions advanced on behalf of the Petitioners as well as the Railway and the State Government, we also deem it appropriate to issue a similar directions.

However, at this stage, we deem it appropriate to clarify that in the year 2022, the Railway Authority had already issued notices to several encroachers, who were squatting on its land, whether situated within ten meter buffer/safety zone or beyond that, but since now there must have been change in the persons, who are occupying the juggis/hutments, we deem it appropriate that the Railway shall carry out the process of issuing notices afresh, specifying a time-line within which the encroachers will vacate the premises. It is brought to our notice by the learned senior counsel Mr.Govilkar representing the Railways that the show-cause notices issued under Section 4 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 and which are annexed to the Petition have attained finality, as the orders have been passed in the year 2022 itself ordering eviction.

In such circumstances, we direct the notices to be issued permitting the encroachers to vacate their premises within a period of thirty (30) days and if they fail to do so, the coercive action to be followed.

We also make it clear that though there are only seven Petitioners before us, we permit the Railway to issue similar notices in respect of all those persons, who are occupying the property of Railway unauthorizedly, but these notices shall not apply to those persons, who are occupying some private land.

Upon such notices being received, not only the Petitioners, but all those who are the unauthorized occupants and against whom the orders under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 are issued, as early as in 2022, are bound to vacate their premises or else our directions would follow.

9. In the wake of the above, we issue the following directions :-

                    (i) The respondent - Central Railways do immediately issue notices to the occupants of the concerned structures which are falling within the belt which is required immediately for commencing the remaining project work by giving Thirty (30) days’ time to the concerned occupant (s) to vacate the respective premises;

                    (ii) In respect of the remaining land owned by Railways, even though it may not be immediately required for the project, similar notice be given to the occupants of structures standing thereon by giving Thirty (30) days’ time to vacate the respective premises;

                    (iii) In either case (i) and (ii) above, the notices be issued within one week from today and if the occupants fail to vacate the unauthorized structure, it will be open to the respondent - Central Railways to initiate appropriate action to forcibly dispossess them and to demolish or remove the unauthorized structure (s) by taking assistance of the local police force. The Superintendent / Commissioner of Police of the concerned area shall ensure that adequate police force is deployed on the site and surrounding areas including to provide protection to the officials / staff engaged in the demolition of unauthorized structures and to facilitate them to commence the eviction process and demolition of the unauthorized structures, referred to in the eviction notices on the specified date and time;

                    iv) Before commencing the process of eviction and removal of the structures, the Collector of the concerned District must ensure that necessary details about the names and number of persons occupying the concerned structure, including their identity and profile should be duly recorded, which record should be preserved by the Collector for considering the eligibility of those persons for being provided suitable residential accommodation after being evicted owning to proposed demolition action;

                    (v) The Central Railways shall pay a sum of Rs. 2,000/-per month per demolished structure for a period of six months from the date of demolition of their structure as ex-gratia amount to the head of the family/occupants of the concerned unauthorized structure removed during demolition action;

                    (vi) In the event, the local Government has any rehabilitation scheme, the affected persons may apply for being rehabilitated under the said scheme, if eligible and subject to verification of eligibility and complying with all other terms and conditions of the prevalent scheme. The local Government may provide them suitable residential accommodation in lieu of rehabilitation owing to demolition of their structure.

                    (vii) If no rehabilitation scheme has been formulated by the local Government or is in force, the persons likely to be affected by the action of demolition can apply for allocation of residential premises under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Scheme, which application be processed not later than six months from the date of its receipt and taken to its logical end, application-wise within such period.

                    (viii) Be it a case of rehabilitation under clause (vi) or (vii) above, the persons affected by demolition action by the Authorities cannot insist for allotment of alternative residential accommodation at the same place from where they have been evicted (as it is not in situ rehabilitation programme). The eligible persons be allotted accommodation wherever available in the same or even in neighbouring districts.

                    (ix) In addition, since the Railways have power to initiate civil/criminal action against the unauthorized occupants on the Railway property, must resort to those proceedings against the concerned persons immediately after it is brought to the notice to the concerned official of the Railways.

10. In light of the aforesaid directions, we also direct the Collector of Mumbai Suburban to take steps for rehabilitation of the persons, who are moved from the land belonging to Railway and the Collector shall, in consultation with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, make every effort to rehabilitate them at the earliest in the existing scheme, which is formulated either by the Corporation or if no such scheme is available then their candidature should be considered for being accommodated in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Scheme. In any case, we expect the Collector to take necessary steps within a period of six months not only qua the Petitioners, but the benefit shall also be granted to those, who are removed by the Railway, as they are occupying its land and the Railway intent to displace them for carrying out its activities.

11. The Petition stands disposed of in the aforestated terms.