The State government should remove all illegal religious structures including unauthorised stones, crosses or other structures put up by religious groups on government land within one year, ordered the Kerala High Court.

Issuing the order on a writ petition filed by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala recently, Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan asked the State Chief Secretary to seek a report from the District Collectors to ascertain whether any such illegal structures exist in their jurisdiction. The report shall be obtained in six months and the structures removed so that the people can live in communal harmony to strengthen the country as a sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic, the court ordered.

The District Collectors should remove the illegal structures on government land with the aid of the police. An action-taken report shall be filed before the Registrar General of the High Court within one year, the court ordered.

The Plantation Corporation approached the court against the attempts of some individuals to trespass on government land with the support of certain political groups in Chandanappally Estate, Mottappara, Chandanathadikkal, and Padayanippara in Pathanamthitta district.

The court, which noted that Kerala had hundreds of temples, churches and mosques, pointed out that the Government was taking steps to distribute the Government land to the landless. The government holdings, which are given for plantations on lease, cannot be utilised for religious purposes. Such measures will create religious disharmony in the State. If one religion is allowed to erect its deity on Government land, others too will follow suit, the court observed.

The Bench directed the State to evict such illegal encroachments on the land of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala within six months.