The Karnataka High Court on Friday took exception to the BBMP’s submission that only three out of the 277 illegal religious structures built on public property in the city have been demolished so far.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka directed the BBMP chief commissioner to file an affidavit about the enforcement of the Supreme Court’s order on the demolition of religious structures on public property.
“Notwithstanding several directions, there is hardly any progress made by BBMP in compliance of the orders of this court and the apex court,” the bench observed and directed the chief commissioner to personally look into the issue and file an affidavit by August 10.
In addition, the court directed the Karnataka chief secretary to submit an affidavit on compliance with the order on the demolition of illegal religious structures across the state.
The high court has taken up a suo motu PIL petition on the matter. The next hearing will be on August 12.
Earlier, the civic body had carried out a survey and informed the high court that 277 illegal religious structures in the city were built after September 29, 2009, the day the Supreme Court ordered the removal of illegal structures from public properties.
In January 2018, the Supreme Court directed the high courts across the country to supervise the compliance with its 2009 orders.
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