Bombay HC: railway encroachers get 30 days' notice and a rehabilitation path before eviction

Seven petitioners occupying hutments on railway land at Kurla, Mumbai, challenged notices issued under Section 4 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, after Central Railway sought to clear encroachments within a 10-metre safety buffer along the Kurla-Trombay line. Relying on Supreme Court directions in a similar case concerning Western Railway land (itself following Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation v. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan, (1997) 11 SCC 121) and its own 2026 ruling in Rajo Ransingh Tak v. Union of India, the Bombay High Court held that while the Railways may evict unauthorised occupants of its land, eviction cannot proceed without first recording the identity and details of occupants and affording them a chance at rehabilitation. The Court directed Central Railway to issue fresh 30-day eviction notices, with police assistance for enforcement if needed.

The Railways, the local authority and the State government were held jointly and severally liable to pay Rs. 2,000 per month per demolished structure as ex-gratia relief for six months, and affected persons must be considered for an existing rehabilitation scheme or, failing one, for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana -- though they cannot insist on alternative accommodation at the same site, since this is not an in-situ rehabilitation programme. The Railways were also directed to pursue civil or criminal action against encroachers and against officials who had tolerated the encroachment.