You are not a dictator, this is a democracy, Bombay high court tells Maharashtra government

Court was reacting to arbitrary cancellation of a 12,500sq m plot in Goregaon that had been reserved for a Christian cemetery.

“You are not a dictator,” the Bombay high court told the Maharashtra government on Thursday.

The Bombay high court. (HT File)

“We are living in a democratic society,” said the court, in reaction to the arbitrary cancellation of a 12,500-sq-m plot at Goregaon, which had been reserved for a Christian cemetery.

“How can the allotment of a plot for a Christian cemetery be cancelled just like that, for no apparent reason?” asked a division bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice MS Sonak.

The judges said they were irked to note that though there was no Christian cemetery between Khar and Dahisar and though adjacent plots were allotted for a Hindu crematorium and Muslim burial ground, the allotment for the Christian cemetery was cancelled merely on the recommendation of the commissioner, dairy development. It said the plot in question belongs to the animal husbandry department.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by United Christian Community Centre, a charitable organisation from Malad (East), which complained about a lack of cemeteries for a large section of Christians.