Calcutta High Court Orders Immediate Eviction of Encroachers from Enemy Properties in Kolkata
Click to start listening
Kolkata, Jan 3 (NationPress) A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate action to make the enemy properties in Kolkata free from encroachments.
Enemy properties are those in India that belonged to individuals who migrated to Pakistan or China following the Partition and subsequently acquired citizenship there.
On Monday, the Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, emphasized that the illegal occupants residing on these enemy properties must be evicted without any further delays.
Additionally, the court directed the private power distribution company CESC Limited to promptly terminate the electricity supply to the illegal structures on these enemy properties.
The order entails that the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, CESC Limited, and Kolkata Police will collaboratively ensure these enemy properties in the city are cleared of encroachments.
Furthermore, the court instructed the corporation to cut off water supplies to the illegal constructions.
The Division Bench requested that the competent authorities present a progress update to the court by February 28.
This ruling was issued following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that brought attention to the encroached enemy properties and the illegal constructions occurring there.
The PIL identified a total of eight such enemy properties, all located in North Kolkata.
It was alleged in the PIL that the illegal constructions on these enemy properties were executed without the necessary approvals from the buildings department of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
During the proceedings on Friday, a representative for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation informed the court that police assistance would be needed to clear encroachments by evicting squatters and demolishing the illegal structures.
As a result, the Division Bench included Kolkata Police in the team designated to carry out this order.
