Recalling the recent direction of the Supreme Court to demolish illegal structures, the Telangana High Court on Monday sought to know why the authorities were not acting against construction of a temple in a park land in Ameenpur village of Sangareddy district.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy, hearing a PIL petition on construction of temple in park land, said the authorities can pull down if a structure was built illegally. They can even seek the help of the police for demolition, the bench observed. With the counsel for the temple trust presenting to the court that the deity in the temple was a juristic person, the bench directed that the deity be made one of the respondents in the place.
The temple trust counsel told the court that no new temple was built at the said place but only renovations were being made to the temple already existing there. The village sarpanch had already written a letter to the Endowments authorities conveying this information. However, the bench said that the village sarpanch did not have powers to take a call on the matter.
The counsel submitted to the court that the temple was not built for an individual’s benefit but to serve interests of all the people. However, the CJ made it clear that a structure built without permissions from the authorities concerned had to be pulled down irrespective of the motive behind the construction.
The bench sought to know what permissions were secured under the GHMC Act to construct the temple. The matter was posted to February 7 for next hearing.
