Sad story going on for 75 yrs, major cities have turned into slums: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over encroachment on public lands across the country and observed this is a "sad story" that is going on for the last 75 years and major cities have "turned into slums".

The apex court observed that the primary responsibility of ensuring that there is no encroachment on any property, be it private, government or public, is that of the local authority and they must activate themselves to deal with it.

"It is time that the local government really wakes up to the situation because one encroachment is removed, another place the same encroachment shifts there and they will also have other persons who are manipulating this and they will be taking advantage of the rehabilitation. That is the sad story of this country," a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said.

"And, it is ultimately taxpayers' money which goes down the drain," said the bench, also comprising justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

The top court was hearing two separate pleas which raised issues related to the removal of encroachment from Railway land in the states of Gujarat and Haryana. The bench said encroachment on public land is happening everywhere and the problem will have to be resolved. "Therefore, all major cities have turned into slums. Look at any city, there may be exception we don't know. Chandigarh is said, is exception but again there are issues in Chandigarh also," it said. Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Railways, told the bench that the authority would take action in this regard across the country.