Uttarakhand: Hearing in Haldwani violence case, petitioner did not get relief from HC, sought answer from government

Uttarakhand High Court has directed the government to file its reply within four weeks after hearing the garden case of Malik and Najakat Ali in Haldwani. In the case, senior Supreme Court advocate Salman Khurshid argued online on behalf of the petitioner Malik Ka Bagicha. The case was heard before a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari.

During the arguments in the court, the government said that the disputed land was Nazul land, which was given on a ten-year lease for agricultural purposes but it was not renewed after the lease ended. It was also told that as per the rules, if the land is used for purposes other than the given reason, then the lease is automatically considered cancelled.

Petitioner Safia Malik’s advocate Salman Khurshid argued that they should not be removed from that land and the demolition of their construction should be done only after a regular legal process. Salman Khurshid told the court that they were demolished within four days of issuing the notice whereas this action is taken after 15 days.

Ahrar Baig, who was assisting the petitioner’s advocate, said that they have been demolished wrongly. Advocate General SN Babulkar and CSC Chandrashekhar Rawat told the court that the government demolished encroachments on this land during the drive to remove encroachments as per rules. This land did not belong to the petitioner, illegal construction was done by encroachment on it and the same was removed as per the procedure after giving notice.