No unauthorized structures, including religious, permitted near Yamuna: HC

Yamuna floodplain, an eco-sensitive zone, has to be zealously protected from encroachment and no structure, religious or otherwise, can be permitted to stand there and has to be necessarily removed, the Delhi High Court has said.

A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan refused to interfere with an order of a single judge allowing demolition of 'Prachin Shiv Mandir' -- which was built near the river in Geeta Colony area, noting that the appellant, 'Prachin Shiv Mandir Avam Akhada Samiti', did not have even a "single scrap of a document" to show any legitimacy.

"(The appellant) does not dispute that the said temple was on a site which is located within the Restoration and Rejuvenation of Yamuna River Floodplain Asita, East U.P. land (86 Hectares) from ITO Barrage to old Iron Railway Bridge..

It is apparent that the temple has been constructed unauthorizedly on encroached land in an eco-sensitive zone area. If that is so, no structure, religious or otherwise, can be ..