Prayagraj (UP), Oct 14 The Allahabad High Court has held that the right to freedom of religion, including the right to perform last rites in accordance with religious beliefs, does not entitle a community to claim a specific plot of land belonging to a local body for establishing a cemetery.
A bench of Justices J J Munir and Indrajeet Shukla made the observation while dismissing a writ petition filed by the Christian Community Welfare Society, which had challenged the rejection of its request to convert a barren land in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad into a cemetery for Christians.
The court, in its verdict on Monday, observed that the conversion of a piece of land entrusted to a gram sabha or a local body into public-utility land, to be used as a graveyard, is essentially an executive decision involving the consideration of various factors and contingencies.
"There is no right inhering in any one in the sense of it being justiciable to seek the conversion of a particular non-public utility land into a public-utility land," the court said.
The petitioner had moved the court calling in question a January 7 order issued by the Ghaziabad district magistrate declining the petitioner's proposal to earmark and reserve a 0.342-hectare land situated in Visokhar village for the purpose of a Christian cemetery, after altering its current recorded nature as Class 6(4) land or barren land.
The court said if there is indeed a shortage of space, such a request can be considered by authorities bearing in mind the larger and diverse public interest of the residents of the area.
The petitioner society, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, approached the high court through its president, Vinay Kumar Paul. One of its stated objectives is to extend assistance in the performance of the last rites of Christians.
The society had contended that Christians living in the surrounding area are facing considerable hardship in performing funerals because the existing Christian cemetery at Begamabad Budana is running short of space.
