Kolkata: The state on Thursday assured the Calcutta High Court of no eviction of occupiers under Sealdah flyover till July 9. In case of removal of vagabonds from under Hastings flyover, the HC has granted an interim stay till July 15. On June 29, a ‘public notice’ was pasted at the Sealdah flyover site. “It cannot be a stamped notice, there has to be an officer, an exercise of power, there has to be quotation of paragraphs or relevant provisions. Who is the authority which issued or ordered the eviction? Come back with instructions,” Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty told Additional Advocate General Billwadal Bhattacharya, who was appearing for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).The PIL was filed by Calcutta Hawkers Sangram Samity and its president Shaktiman Ghosh, challenging the notices issued across boroughs under KMC, especially III and VIII. They represent street vendors who are unable to approach the court individually.More than 200 vendors have been conducting business under Sealdah flyover for years. The PIL’s argument was that 1,892 roads, streets and sites within KMC have been demarcated as no-vending zones, and the site under Sealdah flyover does not fall within any of them.Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, representing the Samity, stressed on the public notice fixed on the Sealdah flyover on Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road directing removal of unauthorised structures within seven days.In case of the Hastings eviction drive, though the issue dates to 2025, the PIL hearing before the division bench of ACJ pertained to the fresh notice issued against the occupiers by KMC on June 27, their counsel, advocate Deeptangshu Kar said.Bhattacharyya argued that without rehabilitation, as submitted by the state in a previous hearing, the ‘vagabonds’ cannot be removed. They have to ensure they are rehabilitated in the nearest urban shelter.The counsel for KMC, highlighting the report filed, submitted there are 12 shelter houses with accommodation for 1,035 inmates with a current vacancy of 285. It was submitted that the ‘vagabonds’ were given the option to move there. Moreover, the eviction drive was being conducted on the plea of the Army.But the ACJ directed KMC to come up with proper rehabilitation spaces for the occupiers on the next date of hearing, July 13, and ordered a stay till July 15 or till the next date of order.
