Court tells Delhi to draw time bound plan to remove unauthorised places of worship

Draw plan to remove unauthorised places of worship: HC to govt
Aneesha Mathur : New Delhi, Sat May 25 2013

Taking note of a report filed by the Religious Committee of the Delhi government on the large number of unauthorised religious structures on government land in the capital, Delhi High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to convene an urgent meeting to draw up a time-bound action plan for the removal of the unauthorised structures. It said modalities should be worked out to negotiate with people living near the structures, who are expected to object to the demolition.

The High Court has been monitoring the issue of encroachment on government land since 2005 after taking suo motu cognisance of media reports that said nearly 43,000 acres of government land were lying unused and were being encroached on by the land mafia and unauthorised persons.

In July last year, the court pulled up the Delhi government and the DDA for failing to take steps to completely survey the land in Delhi and failing to ensure that the DDA was in possession of government land.

"The Chief Secretary, GNCTD shall convene, within two weeks, a meeting of the Joint Secretary, Union Territory, (looking into the issue concerning the NCT of Delhi) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the Principal Secretary (Revenue), GNCTD, the Vice Chairman, DDA, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and the Special Secretary, Home Department, GNCTD," a Delhi High Court bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed.

Further, the court also pulled up the government for the slow progress in taking over vacant government land.

Noting that "DDA has been able to take possession of only 7.82 acres of vacant land with the joint efforts of the various authorities", the court observed that the "above progress in taking over possession of vacant land is highly inadequate".

The court has directed the DDA and the land acquisition commissioners (LACs) to "redouble their efforts as far as the joint surveys are concerned". The DDA had submitted a list of 75 religious structures to the Religious Committee, which recommended that 40 structures could be demolished immediately. The Delhi Police had reported that there were fears of resistance by "residents, supported by religious and political persons of that particular area" for the remaining 34 unauthorised religious structures. One of the structures on the DDA's list, at Ladha Sarai, was withdrawn from the list by the committee as it had been wrongly included.

The Religious Committee, in its recommendations, had said: "These illegal occupants may also be told in categorical terms that these unauthorised structures are bound to be removed and therefore they may vacate the site on their own and look for some alternative space. DDA may also involve police in carrying out the negotiations."

The court also pulled up the police for failing to submit a complete report on the unauthorised religious structures in Delhi. In an order on April 17 this year, the High Court had ordered all SHOs of the police stations within whose jurisdiction the lands belonging to DDA are located, to "inform the Religious Committee as to how many unauthorised religious structures exist on such lands and since when".

The court was informed that the ACP (Northeast) had submitted the report. The court directed ACPs from other districts to submit reports in two weeks.
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