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“God is omnipresent. God does not need a specific place for his divine presence. It is the fanatic who is the root cause of all problems to divide people in the name of religion (sic),” Madras High Court stated on Friday as per a report in the Times of India.

While refusing to stall the removal of a temple standing on public land, the division bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and D Bharatha Chakravarthy observed,

“The petitioner, in the garb of setting up a temple, cannot usurp highway property, which is meant for public use irrespective of creed, caste and religion.”

The bench was hearing a plea moved by S Periyasamy seeking to quash a notice issued by the State Highway Department for the removal of a temple in Veppanthattai, in Tamil Nadu’s Perambalur district.

“If the petitioner is so particular in facilitating devotees to worship Vinayagar, it is open for him either to allot his unencumbered land or the land, if any, available to the temple, and thereafter shift the idol to that place,” noted the bench.

The petitioner, a trustee of the temple, stated in the plea that the mandir had existed for more than three decades and was constructed without causing any obstruction to the free flow of the public and transport.

The bench however refused to agree on the same and stated,

“Even though the petitioner has stated that the temple was constructed three decades ago and the land belonged to the temple, what prevented him from producing necessary documents to establish his case?”

The submission that the temple has not caused any hindrance to the public or free flow of traffic all along and was used purely for the purpose of worship cannot be accepted for the reason that, the petitioner has failed miserably to produce documents to prove that the land is under the control of the trust, asserted the bench.

Further, the bench noted that if the submission of the petitioner is accepted, then everyone would encroach upon public land and come with the plea that there was no obstruction to any public and, therefore, they should be permitted to continue their illegal occupation.