Summary
The Delhi High Court had directed the municipal corporation to decide under Section 391 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act on closing a village cremation ground at Masoodpur, in use for over a century, and to shift it to Kishangarh, after Vasant Kunj residents objected. The Standing Committee consciously decided not to close it, but the High Court refused to modify its order. The Supreme Court allowed the corporation's appeal. Colonies that came up near an existing crematorium cannot demand its relocation, or every urban crematorium would have to move. Under Section 391 a cremation ground can be closed only if found offensive or dangerous to neighbours' health, and the Committee found it was not. The shifting direction was set aside, but the corporation must convert the site into a modern electric crematorium within twelve months.
Issues
- Whether the High Court should have modified its earlier direction to shift a long-standing village crematorium after the Standing Committee decided under Section 391 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 not to close it.
Provisions considered
- Section 391, Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957A burning or burial ground may be closed, with the Standing Committee's sanction, only where it has become offensive or dangerous to neighbours' health; the Committee's conscious decision that it had not, and that continuance served public interest, warranted modifying the earlier order. (¶¶ 5.2, 5.3)
- Section 42(f), Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957Making provision for and regulating places for disposal of the dead is an obligatory function of the corporation. (¶¶ 3.1, 5.3)
Held
- The crematorium predated both the Act and the Vasant Kunj colonies, which came up around 1990; later settlement nearby is no ground to shift or stop using it, as otherwise every crematorium would have to be moved out of towns and cities. (¶¶ 5.1, 5.3)
- Since the Standing Committee decided under Section 391 not to close the cremation ground, finding it not offensive to neighbours' health, long in use and in the larger public interest, the High Court ought to have modified its earlier shifting direction. (¶¶ 5.2, 5.3)
- In the larger interest of villagers and neighbours alike, the corporation must modernise the crematorium by converting it into a modern electric crematorium. (¶¶ 5.3, 6)
Result
Appeal allowed; the High Court's order refusing modification set aside and its order dated 03.12.2003 directing the shift to Kishangarh quashed in view of the Standing Committee's decision dated 31.03.2016; the corporation directed to modernise the Masoodpur crematorium into an electric crematorium within twelve months; no costs.