In Vijay Kumar vs. The State of Bihar, through the Chief Secretary (2025), Patna High Court's Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Partha Sarthy concluded:". It appears that a decision was taken by the Zila Parishad to have a burning ground/crematorium on its own land. There is no rule prohibiting more than one burning ghat/crematorium in an area. The petitioner has not been able to show any cause for any interference in the matter. The only objection of the petitioner, worth noting, is that the location of such new burning ghat/crematorium is not appropriate and that it should be located outside the boundary of the populace. There could be different notion about it. Death takes place only in the populace and, therefore, an easily accessible burning ghat would only be more convenient for the people at large. In any view of the matter, finding no fault with the creation of the crematorium/burning ghat and that also an additional one, we dismiss this petition as being meritless."
Besides the State of Bihar, the other five other respondents, namely, Principal Secretary, Department of Revenue and Land Reforms,, Patna, Collector, Sitamarhi, Sub Divisional Officer, Sitamarhi Sadar, Circle Officer, Sonversha Circle, Sitamarhi and Superintendent of Police, District Police Headquarters, Sitamarhi.
The petitioner was aggrieved by the decision of the Zila Parishad to construct an additional crematorium/burning ground when one was already existing in the village. The objection is that it is in the middle of the village whereas a burning ground is always located on the outskirts of the village. He contended that the better policy would be to refurbish the old crematorium rather than having a new crematorium. He also argued that the decision was taken without inputs about the number of deaths in the locality, which necessitated an additional crematorium. The Court found these submissions to be without merit. The judgement was authored by Justice Kumar.
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