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Even if on private property, one would like to believe there are guidelines to be followed if a place of worship (or, for that matter, any permanent structure) is to be set up at a busy road junction. This one has obviously not followed any.

The strange part besides is that the property is part of what is generally known as "Hajee's Garage". As such, is it a precursor to something new coming up there? Or, is it just a symbol of Hindu-Muslim bhaai-chaara? Even if it's the latter, it's going to be posing serious traffic flow issues, and consequently the traffic police perhaps need to take a call on whether it can be allowed to stay.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said God never intended to obstruct footpaths or encroach upon public land and warned chief secretaries of states and Union territories of serious consequences if they did not comply with its orders directing removal of religious structures which came up on pavements and public land after September 2011.

A bench of Justices Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra was peeved as not a single state had filed response to its March 8 order directing them to comply with various interim orders passed by the apex court from time to time on this issue.

The bench said, "None of the states are doing anything to comply with the SC's directions. God never intended to obstruct footpaths and pavements or encroach upon public land. Persons building religious structures on public land and footpaths are insulting god."

The court had on September 13, 2011 said it had undertaken the exercise primarily to ensure that "henceforth no public land, public park or public street is encroached for constructing religious structures".

"All collectors and district magistrates in the country are directed to meticulously ensure that no further land is encroached in their respective districts. The district magistrates and collectors must also ensure that no commercial activity is carried out from unauthorised structures on public land," it had said.

The district magistrates were directed to send their reports every month to the chief secretary of the state regarding fresh encroachment and status of existing unauthorised structures."The chief secretaries, in turn, will file affidavits before this court once in three months on regular basis," the court had directed.

The bench of Justices Gowda and Mishra found that none of the states had complied with its interim orders and were taking the matter lightly by seeking time to file even the court-mandated quarterly status reports. "This is the attitude of the chief secretaries despite the Supreme Court's directions. Are our orders passed for keeping in cold storage? The chief secretaries have no respect for the highest court. We will show them what the court can do. They do not deserve any leniency," the bench said.

The bench's observations followed by an order summoning all chief secretaries to be present in court made the counsel for the states plead for two weeks to file response. Additional solicitor general P S Patwalia requested the court for one last opportunity to the states for filing an affidavit detailing steps taken so far to remove unauthorised religious structures encroaching on public land.

The SC relented and ordered that only those chief secretaries who failed to file the required affidavit in two weeks would remain present in court on the next date of hearing.

I am so excited reading this report in the ToI (it may be accessed here; emphasis has been added by me) that I have chosen to reproduce it in full. Justice Gopala Gowda has been quite known for his no non-sense approaches, and this judgement easily takes the cake. And, it's been long overdue.

There are likewise plenty of judgements on which the executive has failed to act. Perhaps, this judgement will spurr the Civil Society into putting the fear of Justice Gopala Gowda into the minds of the executive.

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Examplary act by the church

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agree. nice post. perhaps, he can consult the various agencies and make a list of all the structures that are obstructing and then issue a official request, which a specified date of response, for people to shift them with ofcourse govt bearing the cost of translocation. from his side, make it a completely civic issue. yenanteeri? btw there is a cult movie called udbhava on this theme.

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The temples in question — Sri Shaneshwara Swami temple, Sri Shanimahatma temple, Kali temple, Bhakta Anjaneya temple and Sri Veera Anjenaya and Vinayaka temple — were built between 10 and 15 years ago on 5,156.16 square feet of encroached railway land, valued at `5.15 crore. All of them are located on the 3.5-km stretch — called Railway Parallel Road — running alongside the railway track from Malleswaram to Yeshwantpur.

The Railway Department is in possession of all documents to prove ownership of the property. The priests or trustees of the temples conceded to the officials in a meeting held six months ago that they do not have any documents to claim ownership.

Last April, the Upa Lokayukta had even issued an order castigating the Railways for not making any efforts to reclaim possession of its land.

The officials are helpless in the face of local resistance and even efforts of the Railway Police Force have failed, they claim.

Meanwhile, Aparna Garg, Estate Officer and Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Railway Division, said, “We are keen on reclaiming our land. The property in question is vital for our expansion plans. In case we decide to lay a new line or try to put in place a suburban infrastructure in the future, it is crucial we have the land in place first.”

Sanjiv Agarwal, Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager, said, “We had written to the chief secretary some months ago, requesting the help of the state government to help us reclaim our land. It would become a law and order problem if we took things into our own hands.”

For the full text of the report (emphasis added by me) in the New Indian Express, click here.

While clearing encroachments in Shakurbasti (Delhi), perhaps the Railways needed to give time to the slum dwellers there to move out, particularly considering the harshness of Delhi winter. But, in Bengaluru, the gods will bless them for releasing them from the bondage of the temple mafioso, as also the people will appreciate clearing of the land or faciltating the operations of Commuter Rail (Namma Railu). So, on behalf of the both the gods as well as the Bengaluru public, I would like to urge the Railways to go ahead and reclaim the lands.

Simultaneously, I would also like to urge the BBMP to shift/ re-locate/ demolish all such unauthorised shrines across the city too, in the overall interest of the gods as well as the citizens. In fact, not having done so all these years, amounts to contempt of various court orders. BBMP needs to be mindful of that.

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