New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday
directed that there shall be no fresh construction of places
of worship at public places throughout the country.
The restriction would apply to temples, mosques,
churches, gurudwaras and places of worship of all other
communities, a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and
Mukundakam Sharma said in an interim order.
The Bench said its order would be enforced till the
issue relating to construction of places of worship at public
places is finally resolved by the apex court.
The apex court also said that the fate of existing
places of worship shall be dealt by the respective state
governments on a "case to case" basis.
The Bench passed the direction after Solicitor General
Gopal Subramanium informed the apex court that the Centre and
the states had reached a consensus that there shall be no
fresh construction of places of worship at public places.
The apex Court had on July 31 directed the government
to ensure no place of worship is allowed to come up by
encroaching public place.
The direction to the Centre came during the hearing of
a petition challenging the Gujarat High Court order of May,
2006, by which the Municipal corporations in the state were
directed to demolish all illegal structures including places
of worship on public roads.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 23:56