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Bombay HC to govt: Demolish illegal shrines by year-end

No religion encourages offering prayers in illegal structures.

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No religion encourages its followers to make illegal religious structures or offer prayers in illegal shrines built on public property, said the Bombay High Court on Saturday.

"Therefore, we expect that no religion/sect or religious/political leader will oppose the demolition of illegal religious structures built after September 2009," said a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed directing the state to complete the action by end of December.

A bench clearly spelt out that the government, even after issuing a resolution in 2011 to take action against identified illegal shrines, has not gone ahead with its decision. "It's been almost five and half years since the notification was issued by the government and still no implementation has taken place. All the directions issued subsequently show that they have remained on paper," said the bench.

The bench also noted that the government has limited itself in identifying the illegal shrines to public streets including footpaths and roads and no action has been taken against illegal shrines on public properties. Thus, the state has been directed to identify illegal religious structures built on public property, issue a government resolution (GR) by March and thereafter setting out an outer limit for demolition.

The court, while holding the demolition of illegal religious structures built on footpaths as legal, referred to its earlier judgement, which held that obstruction on public roads and pavements by illegal
structures was in violation of the Fundamental Rights of Citizens. It added that the right guaranteed to practise one's religion cannot be allowed at any and every place.

The bench has also asked the police commissioners and deputy superintendents of each district to provide necessary police protection to the staff in charge of demolition of illegal religious structures and to initiate prosecution under various laws against those persons who have built them or try to obstruct demolition work.

The court gave the direction while hearing a public interest litigation filed by an NGO, Society for Fast Justice, seeking implementation of the GR issued in 2011 against illegal shrines. The court has asked the government to file a compliance report on the action taken by it every month.

In the past

As per the government resolution issued in November 2015, the illegal shrines will be demolished within six months. Pursuant to an interim order of Supreme Court, a GR of May 5, 2011, and another one in 2015, had prescribed a "well-defined" scheme for appropriate action against unauthorised religious structures in terms of regularisation, relocation and removal. The GR also suggested that a three-tier committee be set up — statewise, district level and in corporations, including Mumbai, Thane and Pune — for relevant action.

The GR also said that illegal and unauthorised shrines erected after September 29, 2009, had to be demolished. Illegal religious shrines before September 2009 had been classified into categories, including old religious shrines, those that can be relocated and those are illegal.

As per statistics, in corporation limits 871 illegal structures were erected after September 2009 and only 225 among them have been demolished. In other parts of the state, there are 847 illegal religious shrines and only 159 of them have been demolished.
 

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