KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday directed to close down the places of worship and prayer halls operating illegally in the state. The court also directed that the Chief Secretary and the Chief of Police should take necessary steps in this regard.

The court issued the order while disposing of a plea filed by the Noorul Islam Samskarika Sangam seeking to convert a commercial building to a Muslim place of worship. The court dismissed the petition.

The court further directed the Chief Secretary to issue necessary orders/circulars directing the competent authority as per the Manual of Guidelines to consider each application to start religious places and prayer halls strictly and the approval can be granted only in appropriate cases. In the order/circular, it should be clearly mentioned that the distance to the nearest similar religious place /prayer hall is one of the criteria while considering the application for religious places and prayer halls, it said.