Guwahati: The Assam government has been ordered by the Gauhati High Court to relocate the households who were uprooted during an eviction campaign in Dhalpur’s Gorukhuti.
While hearing a petition for the relocation of displaced people residing in Golukti, Darpur, submitted by Debabrata Saikia, the head of the opposition in the Assam assembly, the court made observations.
Around 700 households were relocated as part of the eviction action in 2021, as part of a significant administration campaign against illegal encroachment.
The state has already provided for 600 of the displaced families, but the Gauhati High Court ordered the state to resettle the remaining 100 households. These people can now contact the Darrang district commissioner to request resettlement.
The court also mandated that the Darrang commissioner make the required resettlement arrangements within the following six months.
Early in November 2021, the Assam state government made it clear that, in addition to a variety of other requirements, displaced Gorkti households would be resettled in the Dalang area of the state.
In response to a PIL filed by Debabrata Saikia, terming them “encroachers”, the state government in an affidavit to Gauhati High Court said that no compensation will be paid to the said individuals.
The affidavit states: Status of erosion-affected and landless persons in their respective places of origin and districts, citizenship rights, and existing rehabilitation policies of the State”.
Kamaljeet Sarma, an officer with the Sipajar Revenue Department representing the Assam government, said residents were trespassers under the rules of the Assam Revenue Code 1886 and “could be evicted at any time.”
“The issue only concerns encroachments and evictions, not land acquisition at all. So issues like resettlement, rehabilitation and compensation under the Land Acquisition Act are irrelevant,” he added.
The Gauhati High Court registered the Suo Moto PIL after there was violence after an eviction in Sipajhar. The government was given one week to submit a comprehensive affidavit by a Supreme Court tribunal presided over by Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Kakheto Sema.
The court took note of the state government’s promise that the remaining intruders would be resettled without coercion and that they would be persuaded to relocate to the border region on their own. However, if they take such actions, petitioners are free to file a lawsuit before this court.
Talha Abdul Rahman, Saikia’s lawyer, said, “You cannot kick people out of their homes just because they are a foreigner and later make their rehabilitation dependent on proof of citizenship.”
“NRCs are not public and states question the accuracy of his NRC drives. So how does he rely on the same NRC to keep people out?”
About 1,200 to 1,400 houses were reportedly demolished in the Darpur I, II, and III villages of Gorukhuti between September 20 and 23, leaving more than 7,000 people without a place to live.
On September 23, 2021, police fired shots that resulted in the deaths of two persons and the injuries of nearly 20 others, including police officers, despite fierce local resistance.