The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 is intended for ordering evictions and removal of encroachments in cases where there is no dispute with regard to title and possession of the property, and the authorities under the Act do not have jurisdiction to decide complicated questions of title disputes.

By means of present writ petition, the petitioner seeks following relief’s, among others:

(i) To issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the notice bearing case no. W/24/711/1 dated 15.04.2017, issued by the Estate Officer of Railway Department, Izatnagar, Bareilly (Annexure 1 to the writ petition).

(ii) To issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus not to evict the petitioner from his house bearing no. 15/192, situated at line no. 17, Azad Nagar (Banbhulpura), Haldwani, District Nainital.

2. The petitioner, in the instant writ petition, has challenged notice dated 15.04.2017 (Annexure 1 to the petition) issued by the Estate Officer and Sr. Divisional Engineer-I, Divisional Railway Manager, North Eastern Railways, Izatnagar, Bareilly. Show cause notice has been given under Sub-Section (1) of Section 4 of the Public Premises (Eviction of unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 (for brevity here-in-after referred to as ‘the Act’).

3. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner relied upon paras 12 and 14 of the judgment rendered by Hon’ble Andhra Pradesh High Court in Podduturi Vasantha Reddy & etc. vs. Estate Officer, Airports Authority of India, N.A.D. Hyderabad, AIR 2010 ANDHRA PRADESH 46, in support of his contention. Relevant extract of which is reproduced here-in-below:

“12. …and in that view of the matter, based on the ex parte survey conducted, the respondents cannot invoke the provisions under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. Having regard to the objective of the said Legislation and the provisions contained therein, it is designed and intended for ordering evictions and removal of encroachments in cases where there is no dispute with regard to title and possession of the property in question. The powers conferred on the authorities under the said Legislation are only to order eviction and removal of constructions with regard to premises which belong to them. But in cases, where there is a bona fide dispute with regard to title/boundaries of the land belonged to the Government or its Corporations or Companies, such disputes are outside the scope of said Legislation, and the authority constituted under the said enactment cannot be said to have jurisdiction to embark upon the domain of the Civil Court for the purpose of adjudicating civil disputes, the power of which, is exclusively vested in such Courts, and it would be unreasonable to allow such authority to decide such disputes by invoking the provisions of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, which provides for a summary procedure to conduct inquiry and order for eviction and removal of constructions. In that view of the matter, when the said provisions are read with reference to the object of the Legislation, it is clear that the said piece of Legislation never intended to give its authorities the power to decide such complicated questions of title disputes, so as to decide the same by passing orders under Section 5 of the said Act…

14. In another judgment relied upon by the learned counsel in the case of Govt. of A.P. v. Thummala Krishna Rao (AIR 1982 SC 1081), while elaborately considering the scope of similar such provision under Sections 6 and 7 of the A.P. Land Encroachment Act, 1905, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held as under:

“The summary remedy for eviction which is provided for by S.6 of the Act can be resorted to by the Government only against persons who are in unauthorized occupation of any land which is the property of Government”. If there is a bona fide dispute regarding the title of the government to any property, the Government cannot take a unilateral decision in its own favour that the property belongs to it, and on the basis of such decision take recourse to the summary remedy provided by S.6 for evicting the person who is in possession of the property under a bona fide claim or title. The summary remedy prescribed by S.6 is not the kind of