Cuttack: Orissa High Court has refused to interfere on the issue of "unauthorised" religious structures that have come up on the Utkal University campus in Bhubaneswar.

The court has instead left it for the university authorities to decide on the issue.

A PIL filed in the high court had sought direction for demolition of all "unauthorised" religious structures on the Utkal University campus in Bhubaneswar.

Bhubaneswar resident B. Rama Chandra, 71, had filed the PIL on July 20, 2015, alleging that "inaction" of the university authorities had paved the way for construction of the religious structures.

"Taking advantage of inaction of authorities or their indirect approval, some vested interests have been collecting funds from common people in the name of religion and have also been observing rituals creating nuisance," the petition said.

The petitioner has sought the Court's direction "to demolish the temples and religious structures built on premises of Utkal University and recovery of funds spent from Utkal University exchequer".

Petitioner counsel Khirod Rout said on Wednesday that the court had disposed off the petition on August 16 and the certified copy of the order was received a day ago.

In the order, the division bench of Chief Justice K.S. Jhaveri and Justice Indrajit Mahanty said: "Considering the limited nature of grievance and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the writ petition is disposed of directing the vice-chancellor of Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, to consider and dispose off the representation of the petitioner as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order".

The petitioner had submitted his representation to the vice-chancellor on January 18, 2015.

He had turned to high court after no action was taken on his representation.

The PIL was filed along with photographs of eight temples that had come up on the Utkal University campus. They included a Hanuman temple, two Ram temples, a Maa Mangala temple, a Trinath temple, a Radha Krishna temple and a Maa Santoshi temple.

According to the petitioner, there are as many as 21 temples in various parts of the Utkal University campus spread over nearly 400 acres.

"By allowing the construction of unauthorised temples, the authorities are becoming instrumental in wasting national property as well as manpower and also spoiling the study atmosphere inside the campus of Utkal University," the PIL contended.

The petition also sought the court's direction to the Utkal University "to instruct the authorities of all the colleges under its jurisdiction to demolish all types of religious structures on their campus".