SURAT PARSI PANCHAYAT BOARD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petition was initially listed before the Single Bench having regard to the prayers contained therein, however, after the issuance of the notice, at the joint request made by the learned Advocates for the parties to list the petition along with the Suo Moto PIL being WP(PIL) No.53 of 2021, the Single Bench had directed the office to take appropriate orders from the Hon'ble the Chief Justice.

(2.) The present petition has been filed by the petitioner The Surat Parsi Panchayat Board through its Trustee Dr. Homi D. Doodhwala, seeking following prayers :-

(3.) As per the case of the petitioners, the petitioner No.1 is a Religious Charitable Trust registered under the Gujarat Public Trust Act, 1950 and is the apex body representing the Parsee Zoroastrian Community of Surat. The petitioner No.2 is the Trustee of the petitioner No.1 and a devout Parsee. It is further case of the petitioners that for the last more than 3000 years the Parsee community as per their religious mandate, laid out the deceased in a secluded place known as "Dakhmas" (the Tower of Silence).