UP Governor sends Religious Bill to President

LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 3: In an apparent attempt to cool off tempers and avoid any controversy, Governor Suraj Bhan has declined to put his sea...

LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 3: In an apparent attempt to cool off tempers and avoid any controversy, Governor Suraj Bhan has declined to put his seal of approval on the controversial Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Public Religious Buildings and Places Bill, passed by both the Houses through voice vote despite strident opposition in early January.

The Bill virtually bans construction of any religious place or building or even renovation of existing ones unless permission is obtained from the District Magistrate.

“I referred it for Presidential consent because of the involvment of some Central Acts like the CrPC, Transfer of Property Act, Waqf Act and Religious Endowment Act and had gone through the procedings of both the Houses before taking the final decision,” the Governor said.

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The President is likely to refer the Bill to the Law Ministry which might introduce some amendments to make it more acceptable before returning it to the President. The Governor’s move was not unusual and there were a number ofprecedents, legal sources said.

But this decision of the Governor has led to many red faces in the Ram Prakash Gupta government because officially, it had claimed that the introduction of the Bill was a necessity to curb “increasing ISI activities,” especially along the porous Indo-Nepal border.

The Opposition, however, criticised the government claiming that the Bill was targeted at alienating the minority community and a violation of the fundamental right to practice a religion. Gupta had then countered by saying that if so, “any court” would throw the Bill out.

While the Opposition couldn’t block the passage of the Bill, the Governor’s decision has given it another chance to rally against it. “The Bill is nothing but another tool in the hands of the BJP government to persecute and harrass the members of the minority community. We will continue opposing it at all possible fora,” said Pramod Tiwari, Congress Legislature Party leader.

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In fact, several delegations comprising members of theminority community met the Governor arguing that the Bill was being introduced only for their persecution.

The Bill had clearly stated that before making any construction of religious places and buildings the consent of the DMs was a must and his decision could be challeneged only by the Commissioner. "This means that we cannot even renovate our places of worship because the DMs in the BJP government will never okay any project aimed at welfare of minority community," said Nehalludin, a Muslim leader.