The Bombay high court has directed all municipal corporations to file status reports on mushrooming illegal temples and shrines every month while hearing a public interest litigation in this regard. In response to the court’s demand to have a time-bound programme for demolition of such structures, the state government informed that the prescribed action against such shrines was ‘regularisation, relocation or removal’, which was included in a government resolution.
Justice Abhay Oka, who headed the division bench hearing the PIL, directed all the municipal corporations to file status reports on the 15th of every month, giving details of steps taken against illegal shrines. Last month, the high court had asked the government to remove within nine months all the illegal religious structures that had been constructed after September 29, 2009 which is after the Supreme Court order against illegal shrines. The government had issued the GR following the SC order that directed all state governments to take action against illegal shrines. However, due to the lethargic approach of the state, the petition had been filed.
The court had earlier been informed that as of February 1, 2015, there were 6,336 unauthorised structures in the areas under seven municipal corporations including the BMC. Of these, 207 were regularised, 179 demolished and three relocated.
