SC order Gujarat govt to compile report of damaged sites during 2002 riot

The Supreme Court today put Gujarat Government in a deep trouble by directing it to file a survey report of the religious sites which were damaged and destroyed during the 2002 riot in the state.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra also asked the state government to quantify the amount needed for building and repairing those sites that were affected by the riots.

The move  comes after the Apex court hearing an appeal filed by the Gujarat government challenging a Gujarat High Court order directing it to pay compensation for damage and destruction of the religious sites.

At the very start of the proceedings, the Gujarat government said that the state exchequer could not be used for building and repairing religious sites.

The bench, however, said it would look into the issue whether public funds could be used for restoring the damaged sites.

"You compensate if a house is washed away in a flood or if it is damaged in an earthquake. Then why not in case of a religious place?" the bench asked.

Earlier a high court division bench of Acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala had ordered compensation for over 500 places of worships in the state on a plea by Islamic Relief Committee of Gujarat (IRCG), a Non Governmental  Organisation.