Supreme Court urges settlement, appoints mediator in Coimbatore Isha crematorium dispute

The Supreme Court of India on Feb. 26 urged an amicable settlement and appointed former Madras High Court judge Justice B. Rajendran to mediate a Special Leave Petition challenging a modern gasifier crematorium near the Isha Yoga Center on Coimbatore’s outskirts. The bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and including Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, recorded the parties’ consent to negotiate and listed the matter for further consideration on April 17.

Petitioner S. N. Subramanian, represented by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, told the court his house sits hardly 10 metres from the crematorium and that the site lies in a tribal area where burial is the customary practice. Bhushan pressed nuisance and rights-based complaints, alleging bodies had been cremated daily “over the past couple of weeks” and that some remains were brought from Coimbatore city roughly 30 kilometres away. “It violates my fundamental right. I cannot live there with a stench of burning bodies coming,” Bhushan said in court.

Isha Foundation’s counsel, led by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi with Advocate Balaji Srinivasan also appearing, argued the foundation established a modern gas crematorium after obtaining panchayat permission and clearances from concerned departments, including the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Rohatgi told the bench that residents from over five village panchayats had requested a local crematorium. He also disputed the petitioner’s framing of land transactions, saying the petitioner had sold part of his land to Isha; Bhushan acknowledged the sale but said it was not for the purpose of building a crematorium.

The court noted the Madras High Court had earlier dismissed the petitioner’s challenge, finding the gasifier crematorium had been built with proper panchayat permission and within rules. The High Court wording recorded by the bench stated: “the petitioner has no legal grounds. The gasifier crematorium has been built with proper panchayat permission and within the rules. Furthermore, the construction of a crematorium, especially a gas crematorium, serves the society; it cannot be called against public interest.” Chief Justice Surya Kant described the Foundation’s services as “pious work,” and the bench observed orally that “burial has become an expensive affair and the foundation is doing some good work.”

Faced with competing legal and local claims, the Supreme Court directed a structured mediation. “In this regard, we request Justice B Rajendran, a former judge of the Madras High Court, to provide his services as a mediator between the parties,” the court ordered, and instructed Bhushan and Mukul Rohatgi to contact Justice Rajendran by Friday and appear before him as per the schedule fixed. The New Indian Express record in court proceedings noted the bench recorded the foundation’s willingness to offer a fair market price for the petitioner’s house to enable relocation.

The listing on April 17 will return the dispute to the apex court after mediation. Until then, the immediate judicial direction is clear: negotiate under Justice B. Rajendran’s oversight, with counsel required to meet the mediator’s timetable, while the court holds open the question of the crematorium’s legal status for further consideration.