PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Haldwani
The Supreme Court has rescheduled the next hearing for the Vanbhoolpura Railway land encroachment dispute to September 17. Notably, the high-profile case, involving possible eviction and rehabilitation of thousands of people living on the disputed railway land, was originally slated for hearing on Wednesday. It was stated that the case had been listed as number three for the bench headed by the Chief Justice. However, the top court postponed the proceedings, given the large number of listed cases, pushing the new date in mid-September.
In anticipation of the expected verdict on the critical case on Wednesday, the Uttarakhand government and Nainital police had placed the Vanbhoolpura area under high alert with multi-layered security, drone surveillance and anti-riot squads.
It may be mentioned here that although the legal challenge is rooted in the long-standing railway land encroachment allegation, it also encompasses the wider communal fallout linked to the violence that erupted in the region in February 2024, resulting in six deaths.
