Keywords: PWD, unauthorized religious structure
On Friday, the Delhi High Court halted the demolition of a temple located in North East Delhi that is over 50 years old. The temple’s caretakers had received a notice from the Public Works Department (PWD) stating that the temple was constructed on government-owned land. In this case, Judge Tushar Rao Gedela also asked the local police station for a status report that included any disruption of traffic flows as a result of the structure.
The court order stated that until the next hearing, no government authority will take any forceful or violent action to remove the Hanuman Temple mentioned in the PWD’s letter dated May 3, 2023[1]. According to the applicant, he was notified by the Office of Public Works on 3 May that a temple had been set up in public land and this constituted an illegal construction. The Delhi Government and Public Works Department have given the temple caretakers a deadline of May 15 to leave their premises, warning that “grave consequences” await them[2].
According to the notice issued on May 3, the temple is considered an “unauthorized religious structure” and was built by encroaching on government-owned land on Wazirabad Road, which is under the authority of the PWS. The place around the structure is not developed, according to the petitioner whose grandfather was said to have constructed a Hanuman temple in the 1940s. The argument is that for over 60 years the temple had been under the care and custody of the petitioner’s family, with his grandfather moving into Delhi from Gwalior in ’64, it was taken up by generations.
In his statement of objections, the applicant claims that a meeting was called by the authorities to consider moving the temple due to its interference with traffic in the area. The court’s order noted that it seemed that discussions about finding an alternative location for the temple had encountered an obstacle or difficulty.
Written by- Aditya a student of ILSR, GLA University, Mathura, 2nd Semester, an intern under Legal Vidhiya
[1] BAR AND BENCH, https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/delhi-high-court-stays-removal-hanuman-temple-north-east-delhi (last visited on 13th May, 2023).
[2] ibid.
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