MAHMOOD ALI Vs. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Nine individual petitioners have preferred the present Writ Petition to seek the quashing of the Eviction Notices dtd. 4/5/2023 issued by respondent no. 5 - Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM)/ Assistant Custodian of Enemy Property for India, Nainital, District Nainital. They also assail the order dtd. 24/6/2023 passed by respondent no. 5, disposing of the aforesaid notices after considering the replies of the petitioners, and directing the eviction of the petitioners from the property known as Metropole Hotel, Mallital, Nainital. The petitioners also seek directions to the respondents, not to evict the petitioners in pursuance of the Eviction Notice dtd. 4/5/2023, and the order dtd. 24/6/2023, aforesaid. The petitioners also seek a direction to the Government of India, and the State of Uttarakhand to provide alternative places for their residence, or their rehabilitation, in nearby places of Nainital city.

(2.) The case of the petitioners is that all of them, since the time of their forefathers, have been residing in the outhouses of the property known as "Metropole Hotel", Mallital, Nainital. The petitioners, inter alia, state that Metropole Hotel at Nainital vested in the custodian of the Enemy property, eventually, with amendment of the Enemy Property Act in 2017.

(3.) The petitioners state that on 4/5/2023, respondent no. 5 - the SDM, Nainital issued individual eviction notices to the petitioners, stating therein that the petitioners are in unauthorized occupation of enemy property, and directed them to appear before him within one week, and produce documents in their favour to show that their possession of the said property is legal, or else to remove their encroachment, failing which they shall be removed as per law, and at their own expense. The petitioners filed their replies to the notices issued to them by the SDM. However, on 24/6/2023, the impugned order was passed by the SDM, rejecting the petitioners' defenses, and directing their eviction. Since the petitioners now apprehend their dispossession, they have approached this Court by filing this Writ Petition.