The Bombay HC held that the wall around the Siddhivinayak Temple was illegal and it would have to be demolished.
Mayura Janwalkar
The Bombay High Court on Thursday declared the wall around the Siddhivinayak temple illegal and ordered its demolition. It, however, granted an interim relief of four weeks to the temple trust for it to make an appeal in the Supreme court. If, after four weeks, the wall still stood, the BMC should demolish it, the HC said. The temple trust will bear the demolition cost.
The HC gave the order on a PIL filed by Vinod Desai and nine other residents of housing societies around the temple. The petition alleged that the traffic situation in the area had worsened after the wall came up. Previously functional roads, like Kakasaheb Gadgil Marg, were closed. Bus routes were changed, and fewer lanes were open for vehicle movements, causing traffic bottlenecks, it said.
During a hearing on October 4, a division bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice SA Bobade had demanded an explanation on the legal sanction for the wall. The BMC said it had granted the temple permission to erect a temporary structure, which was to be demolished after October 31. The HC said the BMC should not extend the permission period.
The temple trust had built the wall in November 2005 citing security reasons after attacks on religious places like Akshardham in Gandhinagar and the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi. Taking note of the trust’s security concerns, the HC said the trust was free to implement comprehensive security measures, like installing CCTVs, but all within the law.
Trust chairman Subhash Mayekar said, “We spent Rs1 crore to erect the wall. Our board of trustees will decide if we should move the SC.”
Sunita Deshpande, a relieved citizen, said, “Even if it is a temple, you cannot construct a wall in the middle of the road. As it is we have so little space on the roads. I am glad somebody took this matter to court.”
Late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan, who visits the temple often, said, “We have to honour the court’s decision. The gulli next to the temple can be well utilised, which may even help ease traffic congestion.”
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