Officials are obligated to ensure that places of worship are not created on public land by unscrupulous persons through encroachment, the Delhi High Court has said.

Expressing ‘grave concern’ over encroachment of public land under the shelter of a place of worship, Justice Prathiba M Singh said it has been seen in a large number of cases that people claim rights over government land under the garb of temples or other places of worship.

“Such attempts by unscrupulous parties ought to be discouraged, in as much as the occupants, under the garb of a place of worship, turn the land into a completely unplanned encroachment by hundreds of people. The authorities have an obligation to ensure that in public land, places of worship are not created in this manner. Moreover, in the present case, an infrastructure project is being completely crippled due to the pendency of this litigation. This would be contrary to even public interest,” the court said.

While dismissing a suit seeking to permanently restrain the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) from demolishing four temples located at New Patel Nagar, the HC further said, “This trend has been repeatedly frowned upon by the Supreme Court and other courts.”

The court held that the land in question was public land and the plaintiff was not entitled to any relief and also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on him to be deposited with the High Court of Delhi (Middle Income Group) Legal Aid Society. The DDA claimed that the entire land belonged to government and the plaintiff was in its illegal occupation. It is important to ensure that temple land is not encroached by anti-socials. And, it is equally important to ensure that public property is not encroached in the name of place of worship.