Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Monday tabled a bill aimed at protecting illegal religious structures in the state as his government went into damage control mode following the backlash over the demolition of a temple in Nanjangud of Mysuru.
The Karnataka Religious Structure (Protection) Bill 2021, by its own description, is being enacted to empower the government to protect “illegal” religious structures standing in public places. Rules under the bill will be framed after it is passed by both Houses of Karnataka’s legislature. It also prohibits any future construction of religious structures in public places.
The bill, a copy of which is with The Print, intends to circumvent all existing laws, judgments, decree or order of any court, tribunal or authority to protect religious structures that exist on the day the Act commences. The yet-to-be-framed rules will also define the criteria to identify religious structures eligible for protection. These rules of protection, though, will not apply to cases pending before any courts.
The move comes a day after CM Bommai, in the BJP state executive meeting, reportedly said that his government would take corrective measures over the demolition of the Nanjangud temple. The demolition of a temple in Mysuru’s Nanjangud on 8 September had created a storm, with the opposition as well as pro-Hindi organisations targeting the BJP government. This led to Bommai halting the demolition drive, which was undertaken on the Supreme Court’s orders and Karnataka High Court’s directives to clear all encroachments in public places.
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What the bill intends
The bills aims to protect more than a 1,000 illegally constructed religious structures (temples, mosques, churches, gurdwaras, bodh vihars, etc), that have come up since 2009 when the Supreme Court ordered clearance of all such encroachments from public places.
The statement of objects and reasons for the bill reads, “It is considered necessary to provide for protection of religious constructions on a public place constructed before the date of commencement of this Act, in order to protect communal harmony and not to hurt religious sentiments of the public.”
It further states that it aims to restrict unauthorised religious structures and constructions in public places in the future. It also seeks to protect the government and its officials from all legal suits and court proceedings for implementing the Act. The financial memorandum too identifies structures the bill intends to protect as “illegal”.
The bill also allows religious activities to take place in such protected structures under the district administration’s purview. Finally, it mandates that each rule framed under the Act should be brought before both Houses of the Karnataka Legislature to be approved or annulled.
“Empowers the State Government to make rules regarding the manner and conditions subject to which religious structures existing on the date of commencement of this Act shall be protected,” the memorandum attached with the bill states.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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