South Delhi Municipal Corporation vs Federation of Residents Welfare Association, Vasant Kunj (Regd.) and Ors.
Background
The dispute concerned a century-old cremation ground at Masoodpur village, Delhi, used by villagers. In 1995, the Residents Welfare Association of the neighbouring Vasant Kunj colony (developed after 1990) obtained a Delhi High Court order in 2003 directing the Municipal Corporation to shift the crematorium to Kishangarh, about seven km away, citing a Delhi Development Authority plan for an alternate site. Years later, the Corporation's Standing Committee formally decided, under Section 391 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, not to close the Masoodpur crematorium, and the Corporation asked the High Court to modify its 2003 order accordingly, but the High Court refused, leading to this appeal.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the crematorium predated the Vasant Kunj colony by decades, and residents who later settled nearby could not compel its closure merely because of their subsequent presence. Under Section 391, a burial/burning ground can only be ordered closed if it is shown to be offensive or dangerous to neighbourhood health: no such finding had been made; instead, the Standing Committee had consciously decided the ground was neither offensive nor harmful and that continuing it served the larger public interest of Masoodpur's villagers. The Court therefore set aside the High Court's order and the 2003 direction to shift the crematorium, while directing the Corporation to modernise it into an electric crematorium within twelve months, balancing both communities' interests.
Lesson Learnt
A long-established public facility performing a statutory civic function (like a cremation ground) cannot be forced to relocate simply because new residential development later grows up around it; the law requires an actual finding of nuisance or health hazard, not mere proximity or inconvenience to newer residents.