The Kerala High Court has held that the construction of illegal religious structures and buildings cannot be permitted on government lands, whether it is that of Hindu, Christian, Muslim or any other religion, since that would lead to religious disharmony in the state.

The single bench of Justice PV Kunhikrisnan, while considering a writ petition filed by Plantation Corporation of Kerala Limited against the state authorities, on Thursday directed the state government to take necessary steps to remove illegal religious structures on government lands.

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The high court said that if there are any illegal religious structures or buildings on any government land, the government should take necessary steps to remove the same forthwith.

“I am of the considered opinion that the Chief Secretary of the State should issue direction to all the District Collectors in the State to get a report from the Village Officers and Tahsildars to conduct an enquiry to find out whether any illegal religious structures including the erection of unauthorized stones or cross or other structures by any religious group is there in the Government land. Based on the report of the Village Officers and Tahsildars concerned, the District Collectors of the state should take necessary actions within a time schedule to evict all illegal religious structures,” Justice Kunhikrishnan said.

“As far as believers are concerned, irrespective of their religion, God is everywhere, including in their bodies, their homes and wherever they go. Therefore believers need not encroach on government land to construct religious structures. Let it be distributed to landless people and used for mankind. God will be more happy in such a situation and will shower blessings on all believers,” the court observed.

The high court referred to the Preamble of the Constitution to state that religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution does not mean that the citizen can do anything which may lead to communal disharmony.

If people start to construct illegal religious structures and buildings in public places and on government land, it may create friction among religions, the court said.

“If one religion is allowed to erect its deity in a government land, the other religions also will start to erect their religious institutions. This will only create problems, including law and order issues in the state,” the court said.