No unauthorised structure, religious or otherwise, permitted on Yamuna floodplain: HC

Yamuna floodplain, an eco-sensitive zone, has to be zealously protected from encroachment and no structure, religious or otherwise, can be permitted to stand there and has to be necessarily removed, the Delhi High Court has said. A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan refused to interfere with an order of a single judge allowing demolition of 'Prachin Shiv Mandir' — which was built near the river in Geeta Colony area, noting that the appellant, 'Prachin Shiv Mandir Avam Akhada Samiti', did not have even a "single scrap of a document" to show any legitimacy.

"(The appellant) does not dispute that the said temple was on a site which is located within the Restoration and Rejuvenation of Yamuna River Floodplain Asita, East U.P. land (86 Hectares) from ITO Barrage to old Iron Railway Bridge..

It is apparent that the temple has been constructed unauthorizedly on encroached land in an eco-sensitive zone area. If that is so, no structure, religious or otherwise, can be permitted to stand and have to be necessarily removed. More so, the Yamuna River Floodplain has to be zealously protected from such encroachment and unauthorized constructions," said the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, in its order passed on July 10.

Observing that the entire structure comprising the temple had already been demolished by the DDA, the court said even otherwise, nothing survived for further consideration.

The appellant claimed that it was established as a society by a distinguished priest, renowned for founding 101 Shiv Lingas, and the temple stood on one of such revered Shiv Lingas.

It assailed the demolition order on the grounds that it received no formal notice from the authorities and the land belonged to the State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and not the DDA.

The appellant also alleged that no opportunity was granted by the Religious Committee before it recommended the demolition.

In its order, the court stated that the appellant has no document to show its ownership over the site where the temple was built and although the land belonged to the State of UP, the DDA was conferred with the task of removal of any type of encroachment from the land required as per an MoU.

The court also rejected the allegation of violation of principles of natural justice by the Religious Committee, saying a "rank encroacher on public land carrying out unauthorized construction cannot make a grievance of the same".

"There is not even a single scrap of a document placed on record by the appellant/society to show any kind of legitimacy it exercises, either over the land or the illegal structure built thereon. Thus, this argument is noted only to be rejected," the court stated.

"Looked at in any which way, the construction of temple over the said land was not only unauthorized but also the DDA had proper authority to remove any such unauthorized construction or pre existing structures," the court said.

On May 29, the single judge had refused to set aside the order for demolition of 'Pracheen Shiv Mandir', while also refusing to make the deity a party to the petition.

The court had said that Lord Shiva did not need anyone's protection and would be happier if the Yamuna river bed and flood plains areas were cleared of all encroachments and unauthorised construction.