Mumbai, Nov 05: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) drive to demolish illegal shrines existing on roads and public places in the city today received a severe jolt with the Mumbai High Court restraining the civic body from removing 100-odd holy crosses till December 07. The injunction was granted by Chief Justice C K Thakker and Justice Abhay Oka on a petition filed by Nicholas Almeida, city corporator and president of St. John the Baptist church save committee.
Earlier, vacation Judge Justice J P Devadhar had granted a stay till today on demolition of crosses, some of which have been declared as heritage sites by the government.
The petitioner pleaded that they had enough material to show that the crosses were authorised. They said the BMC could not demolish the crosses without hearing them in the matter.
The court directed the petitioners to submit material about legality of the crosses to the concerned ward officers by November 15 and directed BMC to decide on their plea within 15 days (by November 30). In case of adverse order, the civic body was restrained from demolition crosses for a further period of one week and the petitioners were given liberty to move the court during this period if they were aggrieved.
At-least 300 shrines have been demolished so far by the civic body but crosses have not been touched, official sources said.
The trustees of three temples in the city also moved the court today seeking a stay on demolition of the shrines. Their plea would be heard tomorrow.
Bureau Report