Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused to grant urgent relief to the Vile Parle Digambar Jain Temple in its application seeking permission to construct an overhead shed in view of the ensuing monsoon.
Vacation judge, Justice Arif Doctor, however, asked the temple trust to approach the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and make the application for the construction of the overhead shed.
While stating that it was not inclined to vacate the status quo, the HC asked the petitioner to approach the civic body.
The civic body is accused of rushing to demolish the temple before the High Court could hear the stay appeal against demolition. The Free Press Journal reported the issue first and has been consistently following up the matter.
The temple was demolished after the city civil court dismissed the temple trust’s appeal against the demolition on April 8 but gave an oral stay for a week to allow the petitioner to approach the High Court.
However, the trust has accused BMC of carrying out the demolition on April 16 before their appeal could be heard. However, the High Court ordered the BMC on April 17 to stop the demolition until the next hearing, scheduled on April 30.
The temple trust has alleged that the BMC demolished the 90-year-old 1008 Parshvanath Digambar Jain Temple located in Vile Parle’s Kambliwadi.
The partial demolition undertaken by the BMC has left the temple without a roof. Temple’s trustee Anil Shah told FPJ that as per the HC directions they will make an application before the BMC to allow them to construct the overhead shed.
“With the monsoon around the corner, a roof is required over the temple. Otherwise, the devotees will not be able to pray in the temple when it is raining,” said Shah.
