Supreme Court Directs Rehabilitation for Haldwani Railway Land Occupants, Affirms No Legal Right to Stay

The Supreme Court of India ruled that over 4,000 families occupying railway land in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, have no legal right to remain there, as the land belongs to the Railways. The Court directed state authorities to facilitate these families' applications for rehabilitation under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by setting up camps and assisting with formalities. It emphasized that encroachers cannot dictate land use or insist on rehabilitation at the same site, urging timely resolution of the longstanding dispute to allow railway expansion.