Jharkhand High Court on Thursday observed that the law can’t discriminate between poor and rich while removing encroachment on Government land.
The Court while hearing a PIL on the issue of encroachment of water bodies said that it is inhuman to demolish the house of poor on a mere notice of two days without any arrangement of their rehabilitation.
The court said that the notice period for the poor should be extended so that such affected families get time for relocation or to seek legal remedies, adding that in such cases the hammer of law must hit the rich first.
While the court did not justify any kind of encroachment it pointed out that while removing encroachment it can’t be ignored that this is a monsoon and pandemic period. The court also asked the government whether it has plans for the rehabilitation of the displaced people.
In another development the court also snubbed Ranchi district DC Chhavi Ranjan for misleading the court adding that it amounted to contempt of the court.
The court was unhappy over Ranchi district administration furnishing three contradictory affidavits about a particular house constructed on the encroached land of the Hinoo river. The court directed DC to appear before the court during the virtual hearing of the case and directed him to submit documents of that land having 205 as khata number and 430 as plot number. The court asked whether the said property belongs to any powerful person.