Ahmedabad, Jul 22 (PTI) As many as 503 unauthorised religious structures were removed from public spaces in the last three months in compliance with the Supreme Court’s direction, the state government informed the Gujarat High Court on Monday.
Advocate General Kamal Trivedi told the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal that the state government has also issued guidelines to constitute committees at the local administration level to monitor and supervise the removal of such structures on a regular basis and provide a status report to respective departments.
“In approximately three months (since the last hearing of the suo motu petition on April 22, 2024), 503 religious structures have been removed, including 236 in district areas and 267 in municipal corporation areas,” Trivedi said.
Furthermore, two such structures have been regularised in the municipal corporation areas, and 28 were relocated, including 17 in the district and 11 in the municipal corporation areas, he said.
The details were provided to the court in an affidavit filed by the secretary of the state home department as per its order dated April 22, 2024.
The AG said no action was taken during the model code of conduct in place for the Lok Sabha election.
Besides this, local authorities have issued 2,975 notices for unauthorised structures on public streets, public parks or other public places, including 954 in the district and 2,021 in the municipal corporation areas, he said.
A total of 897 notices were published in local newspapers to spread awareness among the public.
Local officials convened 294 meetings with local religious heads, urging them to remove such unauthorised religious structures, Trivedi said.
He informed the high court that the state government framed a guideline on April 19, 2024, with direction to local authorities to constitute committees within 10 days.
“Committees have been constituted in all districts and municipal corporations. Nodal officers have been appointed by the said committees for effective implementation of the said guideline,” he said.
Steps taken by the committee were reviewed every quarter, Trivedi said.
In the previous hearing, the government had told the high court that the guideline was issued with provisions relating to time-bound execution, monitoring, supervising, and inspection and fixing accountability of officers for non-compliance thereof.
The high court had in 2006 initiated suo motu proceedings regarding the demolition drive undertaken by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation to remove purported religious structures that encroached upon public space.
The Supreme Court had directed all states and Union Territories to identify unauthorised religious structures in public places and formulate a comprehensive policy regarding their removal, relocation, or regularisation. PTI KA ARU
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