A division bench of the Gauhati High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, has dismissed an appeal filed by nine shopkeepers challenging the termination of their land licences at Tangla railway station, in a ruling delivered on March 9.
The appeal — registered as WA/52/26 — was filed by Prabin Boro and eight others who had been occupying railway land near Tangla station for close to five decades under temporary land licence agreements issued by the Northeast Frontier Railway.
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According to court records, the licences had permitted the occupants to use the land for both commercial and residential purposes. Over time, original licence holders continued their businesses on the land and sought the transfer of rights over it — a move that led to disputes over their legal standing and ultimately the termination of the licences.
The High Court's dismissal of the appeal upholds the termination of those licences, closing a legal challenge that had sought to preserve the shopkeepers' long-standing claim over the railway land.