Give details of damaged religious sites: SC to Guj govt

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Gujarat government to file a survey report of the religious sites which were damaged and destroyed during the 2002 riots in the state.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra also asked the state government to quantify the amount needed for building and repairing those sites that were affected by the riots.

The court gave the directions on an appeal filed by the Gujarat government challenging a Gujarat High Court order directing it to pay compensation for damage and destruction of the religious sites. At the start of proceedings, Gujarat government said that the state exchequer could not be used for building and repairing religious sites.

The bench, however, said it would look into the issue whether public funds could be used for restoring the damaged sites. "You compensate if a house is washed away in a flood or if it is damaged in an earthquake. Then why not in case of a religious place?" the bench asked. It directed the state government to file an affidavit and posted hearing on July 30.