CHENNAI: Reiterating an earlier order that burials can take place only in designated places, the Madras High Court has ordered the exhumation of bodies buried in a private cemetery attached to a church near a residential complex in Chennai.
Justice N Mala passed the orders while allowing a writ petition filed by a builder praying for orders to revoke the licence erroneously granted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for the burial ground at Madananthapuram village in Alandur taluk.
Citing the judgment rendered by a full bench in the Jagadheeswari and others Vs B Babu Naidu case, the judge said, “Though the judgment was premised on the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayat (Provision of Burial and Burning Grounds) Rules 1999, the law enunciated therein is that there can be no burial of the dead in any place but the designated place.”
The judge directed the landowner, S Albert Kings Bell, to exhume the bodies within 12 weeks and if he fails to do so, the GCC shall carry out the exhumation and recover the costs from him.
Setting aside the order granting licence for procedural lapses and violations of the Acts and Rules, the judge said the landowner is, however, at liberty to submit a fresh application, which the GCC commissioner should consider strictly in accordance with statutory provisions, rules and guidelines.
The judge found “undue haste” on the part of GCC officials in granting the licence, evidently to circumvent the rigours of the proposed rules and such action reflects malafide and arbitrary exercise of the powers “undermining” the Rule of Law and without application of the mind. She also said the procedures prescribed under section 388 (4) of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act were not followed in letter and spirit; and set aside the impugned order dated February 27, 2024.
The petition was filed by Stellar Developer, a Tirupur-based building construction company. It prayed for quashing the licence issued on the application submitted by Dr Samuel Carolinius, of the CSI St Matthew’s Church, for the cemetery on the land owned by Albert Kings Bell on February 27, 2024, apart from directing exhumation of the bodies.
It stated that the construction was started in 2021 and during the course of construction, Albert Kings Bell was burying bodies in the land without obtaining permission from the concerned authorities. The firm further stated the said land was not a designated burial ground. Challenging the order issuing licence, the firm filed the writ petition in the court.
