From: Indian Express
Need rules on illegal religious structures: HC
Utkarsh Anand : New Delhi, Mon Feb 20 2012, 01:46 hrs
The Delhi government has been told to formulate guidelines to deal with encroachment and illegal construction in the form of religious structures.
The Delhi High Court, while adjudicating one such case, gave the government two months for the process.
The government also has to apprise the court about the ‘thumb rule’ and other relevant pointers it has proposed to the Religious Committee to decide on the representations and applications moved by civic agencies or private parties.
“The government shall file an affidavit placing on record the guidelines formulated by it for guidance to the Religious Committee. In case, the guidelines are not formulated till date, necessary steps shall be taken by the government to formulate the same within a period of two months under intimation to the Religious Committee for perusal,” said Justice Hima Kohli.
Justice Kohli also told the government to file a tabulated statement on the number of applications received by the Religious Committee, both by civic authorities and private parties.
“The statement shall also indicate number of meetings held by the Religious Committee in the last one year and the relevant dates and also the number of decisions taken on the references received by it,” said the court.
During the hearings in similar cases, Justice Kohli had been informed that the Religious Committee decisions have been kept in abeyance by the Delhi Cabinet till appropriate guidelines are finalised by the government after deliberations in the Legislative Assembly.
The Religious Committee was constituted by the Chief Secretary.
Meanwhile, the DDA through an affidavit informed that court that till the final guidelines come, “all land owning agencies have been directed to ensure that there is no expansion in these (illegal) construction/structures, and no new religious structures be allowed to come up (on the land)”.
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