Hearing a contempt petition filed against the State government’s failure to implement the court orders for removal of illegally constructed religious structures from public space, the Uttarakhand high court has issued a contempt notice to the chief secretary Om Prakash and sought a reply. The matter was taken up for hearing by the single bench of justice Sharad Kumar Sharma.
The petitioner advocate Vivek Shukla stated that in its order dated September 29, 2009, the Supreme Court had directed all the states to remove illegally constructed religious structures encroaching on public places. However, the Uttarakhand government did not follow the orders of the apex court. In its order, the Supreme Court had also directed all the high courts to ensure implementation of its order. When the apex court’s orders were not implemented in the state, the high court took cognisance and took up the matter in the form of a PIL and ordered all the district magistrates that all such illegally constructed religious structures should be removed by March 23, 2020. However, the state government has not yet implemented this order of the high court. The petitioner also stated that the state government had not even made a policy regarding the illegally constructed religious structures encroaching on public places.
Thursday, 29 October 2020 | PNS | Nainital
