Maha govt has completely failed in demolition of illegal

shrines: HC Mumbai, Sept 20 (PTI) The Bombay High Court todayobserved that there was complete failure on the part of theMaharashtra government in demolition of illegal shrines acrossthe state in keeping with its policy stated in a governmentresolution (GR) last year. "There has been complete failure on the part of thestate government to act against illegal shrines. We find thatthe government has not acted enough as it should have done inkeeping with its policy," observed a division bench headed byJustice Abhay Oka. The high court was hearing a bunch of PILs filed bysocial activist Bhagwanji Riyani and NGOS, including ‘Societyfor Fast Justice.’ Perusing the GR issued by the government on November18, 2015, the bench observed that it appears that the policyof the state pertained to demolition of illegal shrineslocated on public land and not on private properties. "Shall we assume that your policy is confined to onlyillegal shrines which are constructed on public land and noton private properties?" the judges asked the government. The bench also asked the state government and localauthorities to furnish tomorrow the figures of demolition ofillegal shrines in various municipal corporation limits,municipal council areas and in district places prior to 2009and thereafter. The high court also asked the government to strictlyfollow its commitment of demolishing illegal shrines in thestate which had come up after 2009 and warned that any laxityon its part would be viewed seriously. Abhinandan Vagyani, government pleader, assured thecourt that the state government was committed to demolition ofillegal shrines or their regularisation across the state andsought three months time to do so. In January this year, the government pleader hadassured the high court that the administration would pull downsuch illegal shrines by May 2016. In November last year, the high court had also passedan order asking the state government to demolish illegalshrines in Maharashtra within six months. (More) PTI SVS NRBSCBAS