2 October 2009
The Court made all the District Magistrates accountable for the above directions, requiring them to file status reports of the action taken on these directions.
One
can only hope that from now on not only would the
future constructions of such structures would not be permitted, but also
the existing ones causing inconvenience would be removed or relocated.
http://legalperspectives.blogspot.in/2009/10/construction-of-temples-on-public.html
Call
it religious fundamentalism or build following of faith, but any form
of devotion to God does not impute a compulsion upon the followers to
build excessive number of temples or shrines to commemorate the faith,
especially by encroaching upon the property belonging to others or on
public land. However one can find an indiscriminate flooding of such
temples and shrines on public land build without regard to safety
standards, public inconvenience etc. Not just this, once built, these
structures are sought to be perpetuated by defending their demolition or
relocation with all physical power or even political might. In fact the
continuous forbearing of such encroachments of public property are not a
recognition of a feeble political will to take action but also show the
lack of executive enforcement of the laws of the country which prohibit
all such encroachment of public premises.
Taking
note of a news-report published by the Times of India in on May 2, 2006
to the effect that 1200 temples and 260 Islamic shrines had encroached
on public space, the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad took cognizance
of the matter and issued directions to the various Governmental
authorities "to take immediate steps for removal of encroachment of
religious structures on the public space without any discrimination
and submit their reports".
The
validity of this order passed by the Gujarat High Court came up for
examination before the Supreme Court. However, before taking any action,
the Court sought to response of the Government of India on the vital
issue facing the public sentiment of the religious countrymen. The
Solicitor General of India informed the Court that in a meeting of the
Secretaries of all States of the country, the following consensus had
emerged;
(i) No unauthorized construction of any religious institution namely, temple, church, mosque or gurudwara, etc. shall be permitted on public street/public space.
Taking these account and acknowledging the "far-reaching implications and consequences" of its orders, the Supreme Court directed all the States of India to file their response on the issue and make their submissions for a final determination by the Supreme Court.(ii) In respect of unauthorized constructions of any religious nature which has taken place in the past, the State Governments would review the same on a case by case basis and take appropriate steps. This will be done as expeditiously as possible.
The Court, meanwhile, directed that "henceforth no
unauthorized construction shall be carried out or permitted in the name
of Temple, Church, Mosque or Gurudwara etc. on public streets, public
parks or other public places etc."
and "in respect of the unauthorized construction of religious nature
which has already taken place, the State Governments and the Union
Territories shall review the same on case to case basis and take
appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible."
The Court made all the District Magistrates accountable for the above directions, requiring them to file status reports of the action taken on these directions.
http://legalperspectives.blogspot.in/2009/10/construction-of-temples-on-public.html
