Religious structures, illegal, and the law: India
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Judicial orders on illegal shrines
2016/ Supreme Court’s directions
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.
2017/ Delhi HC: ‘Religious structure can’t encroach’
November 25, 2017: The Times of India
The Delhi high court made it clear that no religiousstructure can be permitted to encroach on public land at the expense of others’ rights.
A bench of Acting Chief JusticeGita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar called for a plan to relocate encroachments, including some religious structures which have come up around a 108-foot Hanuman statuein central Delhi.
Even as HC said the statue itself is protected, theencroachments surrounding it must be removed asking the AAP government todraw up a plan.
HC pointed out that Delhi Development Authority has also undertaken several projects involving relocation of temples from various partsof NCR.
“Therefore, there is no reason that religious structures cannot be relocated when they are encroaching on public land,” the court said while hearing PILs in connection with unauthorised constructions and encroachments in Karol Bagh and the Ridge areas of Delhi.
‘Will god hear prayers from illegal shrines?
December 13, 2017: The Times of India
Delhi high court wondered if the prayers reach God from temples built illegally on pavements.
Exasperated at the extent of illegal constructions across the city, the court made the remark while taking stock of progress made by civic agencies in removing encroachment around the 108-feet tall Hanuman statue in Karol Bagh.
“Will the prayers reach the god if you pray from illegal encroachment on pavements? What is its sanctity,” a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said, warning that everyone responsible for unauthorised constructions, including those who built the temple, “will be dealt with”.
The court asked the north corporation, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, to produce records pertaining to the construction of road and pavement adjoining which the illegal encroachment have sprung up.
HC’s direction came after Delhi government additional standing counsel Satyakam, appearing for PWD, told the bench that roads and the pavement in the area were the corporation’s responsibility. He pointed out that since the statue is huge, a major portion rests on the land belonging to DDA.
On its part the Delhi Police informed the court that the temple, including the statue, was being maintained and operated by a trust whose bank statements are being examined. The bench asked the police to complete its inquiry and enforce the law.
2018/ Uttarakhand HC: Seal religious sites built on encroached land
Uttarakhand high court has ordered the state government to seal religious sites built on encroached public land in Rishikesh. In an order delivered on Friday, a written copy of which was made available on Saturday, the court directed the state to seal the town’s “religious places... constructed on public land or pavement without any authority of law.” The HC’s directions came while hearing a public interest litigation pertaining to rampant encroachment in Rishikesh.
According to the PIL, as many as 1,127 people had encroached upon government land, including several who had built temples.
Delhi HC refuses to stay temple demolition
September 24, 2018: The Times of India
Delhi high court has said encroachment on forest land cannot be protected while refusing to direct authorities not to demolish a five-decade-old temple, built on a forest land, in the capital. The court said it was clear from the averments made in the petition that the temple was constructed by encroachment and there was no reason to prohibit the forest department from recovering the land or demolishing the structure.
2018/ NGT: Remove illegal temples in Mathura
Anuja Jaiswal, October 25, 2018: The Times of India
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to remove all illegally-constructed temples on Giriraj Parvat or those which fall within 12 hectares of land under the forest department in Mathura.
The tribunal’s order delivered stated, “UP and its authorities have been directed to respectfully shift the idols of the temples and place them in other legal temples that are beyond the 12 hectares of land, before removing the illegal constructions.”
The order further stated that no ‘samadhi’ (grave) falling in the existing land is to be removed. According to authorities, there are at least 20 temples, including three big ones, existing in the area which will have to be demolished after the order.
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.
Officers penalised for removing encroachments
Gorakhnath Mandir, Jaipur/ 2018
IPS officer shifted after civic body razes Raj temple, March 1, 2018: The Times of India
An IPS officer was removed from the Jaipur Development Authority, hours after the civic body’s enforcement wing partially demolished a temple that UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath wanted to protect. The JDA found the temple to be encroaching upon a city road.
The Gorakhnath Mandir is linked to UP’s Gorakhnath Math. When the JDA had initiated action against it in 2015, Yogi, then the Gorakhpur BJP MP, had written a letter asking the body not to demolish the 35-yearold shrine. The JDA enforcement wing’s head, SP Rahul Jain was removed and put on awaiting posting orders.
“It isn’t right to demolish the temple. It is an administrative decision to put the IPS officer on awaiting posting order,” state urban development minister Srichand Kriplani told
