Siddaramaiah government shelves controversial order on religious institutions

 

Responding to the charges of Council K S Eshwarappa, Siddaramaiah asserted that his government is not against any religion and does not want to interfere in religious institutions. Referring to the order passed by Karnataka High court order, the Chief Minister pointed that state government has followed the directives of the high court.

According to media reports, Siddaramaiah presented some documents referring to the JD(S)-BJP coalition government where a high-level committee under Justice Rama Jois had passed the order on the matter of administrative control on religious institutions.

On January 29, 2018, the Department of Religious and Charitable Endowments had issued one notification seeking inputs and suggestions over the proposed law for the regulation on religious bodies under the control of Religious Endowment Act.

The order was passed after the directions of Karnataka High Court on the issue of non-inclusion of mutts, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists under the amendments brought to Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Act, 1997. It is expected that within two months, the draft committee will submit the proposed draft to the Law Ministry.

Earlier, Senior BJP leader Jagadish Shettar had expressed reservation over the move of Congress government. He accused state government of supporting minority appeasement ahead of the Karnataka assembly election. On the other hand, many heads of religious institutions were in disagreement with the notification issued by state government.