Citizens do not have fundamental right to seek particular place for cremation, burial: Bombay HC

Citizens do not have a fundamental right to seek a particular place for cremations or burials, the Bombay High Court has said.

A bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata made the statement on March 28 while directing the City and Industrial Development Corporation, or CIDCO, to remove a crematorium built near residential societies, shops, a school and a playground in Sector 9 of Navi Mumbai’s Ulwe area.

CIDCO is a government agency that is responsible for the planning of Navi Mumbai.

The agency had already provided a fully functional crematorium at Sector 14, which was around 3.5 km away from the contested site, the court noted.

“It is the Planning Authorities [in this case the CIDCO] who are tasked with these responsibilities for providing crematoriums,” the court said. “A citizen or group of citizens would not have any fundamental right in seeking a particular place for cremation or burial.”

The bench was hearing petitions filed by two housing societies – Lakhani’s Blue Waves Co-operative Housing Society and Ami’s Planet Mercury Co-operative Housing Society in Sector 9 – against the construction of a crematorium in the area, Live Law reported.

The petitioners said that CIDCO had initially sanctioned the construction of a petrol pump on the plots where the crematorium was built in Sector 9.

“However, at some...

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