Babu Ram vs State Of Himachal – Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act

Himachal Pradesh Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1971-A citizen has no right to encroach public land. If indeed any citizen has encroached public land and such encroachment is not otherwise entitled to be regularized under any law, a citizen has no right to sit on public land. In such a case, the minimum safeguard that is required of the State while ordering eviction of an alleged unauthorized occupant is to follow a fair procedure which would, inter alia, include a proper exercise conducted for demarcation of the land in the presence of the party who is likely to be affected if an order of eviction were passed, a proper show cause notice under section 4 of the 1971 Act indicating the ground(s) on which action is proposed, which must be served together with any document that the State desires to rely on during the course of the eviction proceedings, a just and proper consideration of the response of the noticee to the show cause notice, sufficient opportunity to lead evidence, and application of mind to all the materials on record leading to an order of eviction, if at all, it is required to be passed. If an appeal is preferred, it is needless to observe that the provisions of the 1971 Act governing disposal of such appeals also need to be adhered to strictly apart from natural justice principles.