Allahabad High Court Addresses Illegal Construction in UP’s Sacred Cities
The Allahabad High Court has raised a significant concern regarding the urban development patterns in India’s religious cities, emphasizing that these patterns are influenced by construction lobbies collaborating with political entities. In the case of Swami Shiv Swarupananad Ji Maharaj v. State of UP and 3 Others, Justice Vinod Diwakar specifically highlighted the situation in North India’s spiritual hubs such as Mathura, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Prayagraj, and Vrindavan.
According to the court, the commercial allure of land near sacred sites has led to a pronounced collusion between builders and political figures, resulting in rampant unauthorized construction. Justice Diwakar noted that such activities are not merely the consequences of poverty or a lack of awareness. Instead, they represent deliberate, economically driven illegalities facilitated by political powers and allowed to proliferate through institutional complacency and regulatory capture.
The court emphasized that while India possesses adequate legislation to curb these illegalities, there is a pressing need for a resolute and incorruptible institutional will to confront these powerful interests without bias. The bench warned that if cities are allowed to fall prey to this builder-bureaucrat nexus, unchecked high-rise developments could irreversibly alter their landscapes.
“Urban history teaches us that once a city’s landscape is marred, future generations cannot easily restore it. Our legacy will be judged not by what we built, but by what we allowed to be destroyed,” the bench asserted.
Lack of Comprehensive Development Plans and Crowd Management
These observations emerged from a petition concerning an illegal Ashram in flood-prone Vrindavan. During the proceedings, the court took suo motu notice of the rising incidence of stampedes in Uttar Pradesh and criticized the inadequate development planning for the state’s temple cities. Specifically, the court expressed dismay over Mathura’s development plan, which only spans ten years, despite its rich historical and spiritual heritage.
More Read
The court labeled this short-term planning as a significant governance failure, arguing that cities like Mathura, Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Chitrakoot deserve more than being equated with other urban areas in Uttar Pradesh.
In its judgment dated July 22, the court urged the institutionalization of crowd behavior study and management as an academic discipline within Uttar Pradesh’s universities and technical institutions. The court noted the lack of a structured curriculum on crowd science, despite the state’s history of hosting massive gatherings, such as the Kumbh Mela.
The court recommended establishing a Center of Excellence focused on Crowd Science, Mass Gathering Safety, and Urban Risk Management. Additionally, it advised the government to explore establishing a statutory commission akin to the Delhi Urban Art Commission, to guide urban design and development in Uttar Pradesh.
More Read
Advocates Dharmendra Kumar Gupta and Kiran Gupta represented the petitioner, while Advocate Harsh Vardhan Gupta appeared for the respondents.
