Asserting that protection of property and places of worship was an essential part of secularism, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said religious places damaged in the 2002 post-Godhra violence would get compensation under a Gujarat Government scheme.
The High Court had on February 8, 2012 directed the State Government to compensate just the Muslim shrines and places of worship damaged during the 2002 post-Godhra riots. The State appealed to the apex court claiming that such an order sent out a wrong message as taxpayers’ money should not be used for maintaining and restoring religious places of a particular community or religious group.
It further said that HC ought not to have granted compensation while entertaining the PIl filed by NGO called Islamic Relief Committee of Gujarat (IRCG) as it was a public law remedy for which the institutions ought to have approached the concerned civil courts for damages.
The Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice PC Pant set aside the HC order and referred to past judgments which had said that taxpayers' money cannot be made available for repairing religious structures. The State had informed the Court that a policy was in place by which the state had agreed to provide an “ex-gratia assistance” of up to Rs 50,000 for any religious structure or individual who suffered damages to property during the riots.
The policy had certain riders too. For receiving the ex-gratia payment, the religious place in question should not be unauthorised or located in the middle of a public road.
Further, there must be a valid proof of damage shown by way of FIR registered with the police detailing the damages. In addition, the person/group claiming compensation has to furnish proof of ownership or administration rights of the concerned religious place.
The Court asked the claimants to approach the authorities within eight weeks and directed that “the authorities shall determine the same within three months from the receipt of the claims.”