A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has upheld permission granted by the District Collector for setting up a gas crematorium proposed by Poothrikka panchayat.
The Bench passed the verdict while dismissing an appeal filed by Vadayampady Pourasamiti and John Joseph, a ward member, against a single judge’s order allowing construction of the crematorium. According to the petitioner, there was no need for a crematorium in Poothrikka panchayat as there was a crematorium at the nearby Brahmapuram.
The panchayat had submitted that the proposal had been included in its 2018-19 annual project. A rough estimate of the construction came to ₹87 lakh. Since the panchayat did not have sufficient funds, it sought the assistance of Kochi Refineries Ltd (KRL), which later approved the request for ₹50 lakh. The Bench observed that the crematorium project was proposed at the instance of the panchayat. Opposition from a member could not challenge the collective decision of the panchayat, it said.
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The court further pointed out that a private party could not insist that the panchayat should not set up its own crematorium. When a conscious decision is taken by the panchayat to set up a crematorium in its own land, for which it had obtained funds from the appropriate authorities, it was not open for the court to sit in judgment over the decision on the premise that there was a crematorium nearby, it held.