Bill to protect religious structures adopted

Seeks to insulate unauthorised religious structures in public places from court’s directive to demolish such constructions

The Assembly adopted the Karnataka Religious Structures (Protection) Bill, 2021, that seeks to insulate unauthorised religious structures from the court’s directive to demolish such constructions in public places.

The Bill gives protection from the court order to all religious structures that have been built before the date of coming into existence of this legislation. It comes in the wake of outrage over demolition of a temple in Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru district by officials as part of efforts to comply with the court’s directive.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah took exception to the government demolishing the temple in Nanjangud and later also bringing the Bill to protect them. Congress MLA U.T. Khader taunted that the BJP would be known in future for demolishing temples. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who piloted the Bill, countered by pointing out that 161 of the total 315 unauthorised religious structures had been demolished in Mysuru when the BJP was not in power.

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The Assembly also adopted the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill and Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill.