HC asks Siddhivinayak Temple to demolish wall

Mumbai, Oct 12: The Bombay High Court today directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to initiate action against the Siddhivinayak Temple if it failed to demolish the wall around the temple by October 31.

A division bench comprising Justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mr Vinod Gajanan alleging that the wall had encroached upon the public road causing inconvenience to the residents and passers-by.

Earlier, the court had asked the BMC to indicate the legal provisions under which the wall had been allowed to be constructed.

State Advocate General Ravi Kadam told the court that the BMC Act and the Bombay Police Act allowed for constructing barricades.

''Erection of the concrete wall does not get legal sanction under any of the provisions in the said Acts,'' Justice Lodha observed.

Petitioner's counsel Sanghraj Roopwade told the court that the wall blocked two roads completely while the third, which is an arterial road, was partially taken up by the wall that was initially allowed to skirt about eight-feet around the temple but had taken up 60-feet of the Veer Savarkar Marg.

He contended that inconvenience was caused to people residing on the S K Gole Marg and Kaka Saheb Gadgil Marg that were completely blocked by the wall.

Counsel for the Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust C J Sawant told the court that the wall was erected for security reasons and to protect it against terror attacks.

However, the court ruled that if the wall was not constructed as per earlier BMC proposition skirting 15-feet around the temple, it would have to go.

The court accepted the State's suggestion that there could be deployment of non-police personnel for the security of the temple.

The court permitted use of temporary barriers for security reasons but not a permanent structure like the wall.

The 18-inch thick wall, that runs 90 metres around the temple, will have to be demolished, the court ruled. If the Temple trust did not demolish the wall by October 31, the BMC would initiate action for the demolition and recover the costs from the Trust, the court held.

UNI