Misusing public land

Establishment of all kinds of shrines, ranging from temples to mosques and memorial columns on public land, not only amounts to illegal activities, but going by a direction issued by the Delhi Court recently also leads to disastrous consequences and jeopardize larger public interest. It is very interesting to note that Justice Dharmesh Sharma of the Delhi High Court, in an order, said that in India there are thousands of sadhus, babas, fakirs, and gurus, and if each one is allowed to build a shrine or samadhi sthal on a public land and thereby, continue to use it for personal gains by the vested interest groups, it would lead to disastrous consequences jeopardizing larger public interest. Justice Sharma’s observations came while he was dismissing a petition in which a certain self-styled mahant had laid claim on a piece of government land at Nigambodh-ghat in the national capital, to which the latter claimed he had legal rights because he has been there for over 30 years. While reading Justice Sharma’s order, one is prompted to recall that a large number of shrines have been established on public land across the country over the decades, most of which are on the pavements of roads and, in many cases, even on the road itself. These shrines, if at all they deserve to be called so, not only occupy land earmarked for roads but also cause roads not just to shrink and, in many cases, to permanently obstruct any future widening of roads. While one can see many such ‘shrines’ on roads and footpaths in Guwahati, there is at least one instance when land belonging to an important road in the city had to be given away in order to accommodate the expansion of a mosque.