The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Gujarat High Court order, asking the state government to pay for the reconstruction and repair of religious structures that were damaged in the 2002 post-Godhra riots, PTI reported.

While the High Court had in 2013 asked the state government to use taxpayers’ money to restore and rebuild the religious sites, the apex court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice PC Pant said the order was not tenable in law. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state government, had told the court that it was willing to pay from the ex-gratia amount for the reconstruction of damaged shrines. “This scheme of the government has been accepted,” Mehta said.

The Gujarat High Court had pulled up the state government for its “negligence and inaction” during the 2002 riots, and asked it to compensate for 500 mosques and shrines that had been damaged, India Today reported.