West Bengal Religious Buildings And Places Act, 1985
No: 32 Dated: Jan, 09 1986
The West Bengal Religious Buildings And Places Act, 1985
West Bengal Act 32 of 1985
An Act to provide for the regulation of construction of public religious buildings and use of public for religious purposes.
Whereas it is expedient in the public interest to provide for the regulation of construction of public religious buildings and use of public places for religious purposes;
It is hereby enacted as follows :-
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1986.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different areas.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "Board" means the Board of Revenue, West Bengal;
(b) "building" means a house, shop, hut, shed or other structure or enclosure, whether roofed or not, of whatsoever material constructed, and includes any part of such house, shop, hut, shed or other structure or enclosure, and also includes a wall, verandah, platform, plinth or door step or a tent or other portable and merely temporary shelter;
(c) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(d) "place" means an open space without any building;
(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(f) "private building" and "private place" means respectively a building and place other than a public building and a public place, and the expressions "private religious building" and "private religious place" shall be construed accordingly;
(g) "public building" and "public place" mean respectively a building and a place, whether or not acquired, constructed or maintained by or at the expense of any specified person or association of persons, which are not for the private or personal use of such person or association of persons and are open to the public in general or any class or section thereof for the purpose, if any, for which they may have been set apart, and the expressions "public religious buildings" and "public religious place" shall be construed accordingly.
Explanation I. - For the purposes of this clause, -
(i) "association of persons" shall include a club, committee, society, or organisation, by whatever name called; and
(ii) "specified person" shall mean such person as may be specified by the State Government by notification.
Explanation II. - For the avoidance of doubts, it is hereby declared that if any building or place, acquired, constructed or maintained by any specified person or association of persons is a private or personal property of such specified person or association of persons and such specified person or association of persons accepts any offerings, pujas or subscriptions for religious purposes from the public, such building or place shall be deemed to be a public building or public place;
(h) "religious" when used with reference to any building or place shall mean a building (including, a temple, mosque, church, chhatri, dargah, Khanquah, math or takiya) or place used or intended to be used for the purposes of religious worship or instruction or offering of prayers (including 'Bhajan, Kirtan, Stuti or Namaz) or performance of any religious rites by persons of or belonging to any religious creed, sect or class.
3. Bar to construction or conversion. - (1) No person shall construct any public religious building or convert any private building or public building or private place or public place into a public religious building within a radius of 250 metres of any existing public religious building or public religious place for a different religious community.
(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to any public place traditionally used for a long period as a public religious place.
Explanation. - The expression "any public place traditionally used for a long period" shall mean a public place used for a period of not less than twenty years.