By Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Jan 19, 2013,
12.36 AM IST
The order can empower municipal and
government bodies to prevent unauthorized constructions being carried out under
the garb of religious structures as often local political interests and
religious sentiments render authorities helpless.
NEW DELHI: In an order that will be
welcomed by civic bodies and bring relief to citizens, the Supreme Court on
Friday banned fresh encroachment of roads, pavements and sideways by
construction of religious structures or installation of statues of public
figures.
The apex court's ruling addresses a common
hazard in all Indian cities and towns where unauthorized religious structures -
often thinly disguised cases of land grab - have sprung up on public and
private land and are obstructing roads and inconveniencing residents.
The order can empower municipal and
government bodies to prevent unauthorized constructions being carried out under
the garb of religious structures as often local political interests and
religious sentiments render authorities helpless.
Along with religious structures, the court
also ruled on installation of statues. "Henceforth, states shall not grant
permission to install any statue or erect any structure on public roads,
pavements and sideways and other public utility places," ordered a bench
of Justices R M Lodha and S J Mukhopadhaya.
The order was passed on an application
challenging the Kerala government's permission to a private society to install
the statue of public figure on a traffic island on a national highway at a busy
intersection where vehicles had to crawl because of existing encroachments.
The bench said the time has come to ban
construction of temples, mosques, churches and gurudwaras on public places
abutting roads which significantly restrict movement of vehicles leading to
long traffic snarls. After issuing the ban, the court clarified that it would
not apply to installation of street lights, mask lights or other public utility
services.
On existing unauthorized religious
structures on roads, the bench took a nuanced position recognizing that removal
of such construction is not an easy task for either municipal authorities or
police. It said these could be removed without creating a law and order
problem.
"Public road is not anyone's property.
Each citizen had a right to use the road and that right cannot be interfered
with or impeded by constructing a temple, mosque, church or gurudwara or by
installing the statue of a public figure," said Justices Lodha and
Mukhopadhaya.
The order came on the application by K R
Pradeep Kumar of Thiruvananthapuram district during the hearing on the issue of
removal of religious structures encroaching into areas earmarked for roads. The
court had, in an interim order on September 29, 2009, directed that henceforth
no unauthorized construction shall be carried out or permitted in the name of
temple, church, mosque or gurudwara on public streets, public parks or other
public places. The direction is now a final ruling.
In respect of unauthorized constructions of
religious nature that have already taken place, state governments were asked to
review these on a case to case basis and take appropriate steps as
expeditiously as possible. The court on Friday asked the amicus curiae to
collate the policy of each state on this issue for scrutiny after four weeks.
Kerala had informed the court that out of
901 cases of encroachment, only three had been removed. The applicant, Pradeep
Kumar, said though Kerala had the highest average road length in the country,
the growth of traffic had rendered most roads congested.
He said installation of statues on
roundabouts had further narrowed road space leading to frequent accidents. The
Sundaran Nadar Foundation was permitted to install a statue in the middle of
the national highway from Thiruvananthapuram to Kanyakumari at Neyyatinkara on
a traffic island.
A statue of Shri Ayyankali was installed at
the Vellayambalam Square in the 1980s, the applicant said. In addition, there
were cases of encroachment of roads by commercial establishments in various
towns, he said.
No steps have been taken by the state
government to remove illegal encroachments on the roads and to prevent new
structures constructed in the middle/side of important arterial roads adding to
the existing problem of traffic congestion, Kumar had complained.
He had said on one hand, the state was
filing affidavits on removal of encroachment on roads and on the other, it was
permitting installation of statues in the middle of roads resulting in further
congestion and accidents.
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