A Division Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has in the case of Venkatesan v. The Principal Secretary observed that the State is under an obligation to ensure that members of all communities are provided access to burial/ cremation facilities.
The Bench expressed that,
“The right to life also encompasses the right to a decent burial or cremation. The State is clearly under an obligation to ensure that members of all communities are provided access to burial/ cremation facilities.”
Facts of the Case
The petitioner complains of the failure of the official respondents to provide for a burial ground or area for the cremation of the dead belonging to the petitioner's community at Madhuravalli Village, Thittakudi Taluk, Cuddalore District.
Therefore, the Petitioner filed a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing respondents to take appropriate action to allot a small portion of land in the corner of the common burial ground in Madhuravalli village for burying our people based on the representation of the petitioner dated 1.3.2021.
Court Reasoning & Judgment
The Court perused the material facts and looked into the multiple representations which were submitted to the official respondents but that no action has been taken thereon. The petitioner made a request to the official respondents to allot a small portion of land in the said survey numbers for use by members of the petitioner's community yet no action has been taken by the Respondents.
The learned counsel for the State informed the Court that the District Collector is the appropriate authority to consider and dispose of the petitioner's representation. Making reliance on the Fundamental Right i.e Right to life includes the Right to decent burial also. The Court ordered the District Magistrate to consider the representation, which has been submitted on behalf of all members of the petitioner's community and dispose of the same by a reasoned order after taking into account the observations set out above.
Therefore, The Court disposed of the matter, without any order as to costs and ordered the District Magistrate to take appropriate action within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order after providing a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and to all others affected thereby.
Case Details
Case:- W.P.No.15001 of 2021
Petitioner:- Venkatesan
Respondent:- The Principal Secretary & Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner: - Mr.D.Ashok Kumar
Counsel for Respondent: - Ms.Amritha Ponkodi Dinakaran
Judge: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
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