Ranchi, May 23: Jharkhand High Court has clamped a stay order on the construction of a panchayat bhavan in Deoghar today.

The division bench while hearing a public interest litigation ordered the government to file a counter affidavit to explain why the panchayat building was being built within the premises of a temple in Manoharpur block of Deoghar district.

The bench, while ordering an immediate halt in construction work, also sought an explanation from the Deoghar district administration on how a community building was allowed to be built on the temple premises.

In his petition, Vimal Prasad Bhokta said that since the panchayat bhavan was a community building, it should not be constructed on temple premises. The village also has a sizeable population of the minority community, which may not like visiting the panchayat building on the temple premises. This could lead to problems later and a corrective step should be taken now, the petitioner pointed out.

The temple premises is also used to organise fairs in the village. People from neighbouring villages also come to Tarabad to participate in these fairs. The construction of the panchayat building will take too much of space, Bhokta said in his petition.