HC seeks info from UP govt on illegal religious structures

The Allahabad High Court today asked the Uttar Pradesh government as to how many religious structures, built up illegally on public thoroughfare and highways after January 1, 2011, has been razed down by it.

A Lucknow bench of the high court also asked it as to what it did to shift such structures built before January 1, 2011.

A vacation bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Irshad Ali also asked the Lucknow district administration to apprise it of the time of building a religious structure allegedly on public land in Para area of the city.

The bench gave the directions while hearing a public interest lawsuit on unauthorised construction of religious structures on public land.

The bench was informed that the high court had on June 3, 2016 had passed a detailed order on how to deal with illegal religious structures built on public roads.

It therefore asked the state government to tell it about the compliance of the said order within four weeks.