Religious structures, illegal, and the law: India
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Judicial orders on illegal shrines
Supreme Court’s directions: 2016
The Times of India, Apr 20 2016
Dhananjay Mahapatra Raze All Illegal Religious Structures: SC
The Supreme Court said god never intended to obstruct footpaths or encroach upon public land and warned chief secretaries of states and Union Territories of serious consequences if they did not comply with its orders directing removal of religious structures which came up on pavements and public land after September 2011.
A bench of Justices Gopa la Gowda and Arun Mishra was peeved as not a single state had filed response to its March 8 order directing them to comply with various interim orders passed by the apex court from time to time on this issue.
The bench said, “None of the states are doing anything to comply with the SC's directions. God never intended to obstruct footpaths and pavements or encroach upon public land. Persons building religious structures on public land and footpaths are insulting god.“
The court had on September 13, 2011 said it had undertaken the exercise primarily to ensure that “henceforth no public land, public park or public street is encroached for constructing religious structures“.
“All collectors and district magistrates in the country are directed to meticulously ensure that no further land is encroached in their respective districts. The district magistrates and collectors must also ensure that no commercial activity is carried out from unauthorised structures on public land,“ it had said.
The district magistrates were directed to send their reports every month to the chief secretary of the state regarding fresh encroachment and status of existing unauthorised structures.“The chief secretaries, in turn, will file affidavits before this court once in three months on regular basis,“ the court had directed.
The bench of Justices Gowda and Mishra found that none of the states had complied with its interim orders and were taking the matter lightly by seeking time to file even the court-mandated quarterly status reports. “This is the attitude of the chief secretaries despite the Supreme Court's directions. Are our orders passed for keeping in cold storage? The chief secretaries have no respect for the highest court. We will show them what the court can do.They do not deserve any leniency ,“ the bench said.
The bench's observations followed by an order summoning all chief secretaries to be present in court made the counsel for the states plead for two weeks to file response.Additional solicitor general P S Patwalia requested the court for one last opportunity to the states for filing an affidavit detailing steps taken so far to remove unauthorised religious structures encroaching on public land.
The SC relented and ordered that only those chief secretaries who failed to file the required affidavit in two weeks would remain present in court on the next date of hearing.
Illegal shrines in India
30-yr-old Chennai shrine demolished from footpath after HC order
December 8, 2014
After Madras HC orders, the Chennai corporation demolished a 30-year old temple that was built on the footpath at the north gate entrance of the court in the 1980s. The Needhi Kumariamman temple, built for the well-being of ex Chief Minister MG Ramachandran when he was under treatment in the US, was demolished on Sunday. Teams of police officials and corporation workers carried out the demolition.
Illegal shrines in Mumbai
The Times of India, Nov 12 2015
B B Nayak
After HC order, Navi Mumbai finds over 500 illegal shrines
A total of 503 illegal religious structures stand in Navi Mumbai today , reveal surveys undertaken by Cidco and NMMC. Now, Cidco plans to conduct another survey and activists say many more such llegal shrines may get added to the list. Cidco identified 445 such illegal structures in the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), excluding gaothan conglomerates in civic area. The NMMC conducted a new survey and amended its list, after which 58 more illegal structures were added to the count in areas under its administration. Sources from both agencies said action would be taken on the illegal religious structures that had come up after 2009, in adherence to the Bombay high court directive to crack the whip on such structures within 10 months beginning October. “We have razed six of the 22 structures that came up after 2009,“ additional municipal commissioner Ankush Chavan said.
