PIL opposes 'commercialisation' of cemetery in Valsad

The Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the state government and others on a PIL against alleged commercialisation of a Christian cemetery in Valsad.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi issued notices to the government, Valsad Collector and First District Church of the Brethren (FDCB).

FDCB was charging money for burial without any authority, the petitioner Dharmesh Thakor said.

Thakor, himself a Christian, said the site was handed over to the community by the district Collector in 1950 to whom it still legally belonged.

Members of the local Christian community managed the site, but FDCB took it over in 2015 and started charging Rs 5,000 for every burial, the PIL said.

FDCB and some others were also alleged to have commercialised the place by allowing advertisement hoardings and a mobile tower to come up, the PIL said, demanding that the burial ground be returned to the locals.

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