The West Bengal Religious Buildings And Places Act, 1985

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL 
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 
West Bengal Act XXXII of 1985 
THE WEST BENGAL RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS 
AND PLACES ACT, 1985. 
[Passed by the West Bengal Legislature.] 
[Assent of the President of India was first published in the Calcutta 
Gazette, Extraordinary, of the 9th January, 1986.] 
[9th January, 1986.] 
An Act to provide for the regulation of construction of public rligious 
buildings and use of public places 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 in the Thirty-sixth Year of the Republic of India, 
by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:- 
1. (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Religious Buildings 
and Places Act, 1985. 
(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. 
Short title, 
extent and 
commence-
ment. 
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 	 Definitions. 
(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; 
185 
The West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Section 2.) 
(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this 
Act; 
(f) "private building" and "private place" mean respectively a 
building and a 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, consructed 
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 building" 
and "public religious place" shall be construed accordingly. 
Explanation 1.—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 11.—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. 
186 
The West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985. 
XXXII of 1985.] 
(Sections 3-5.) 
3. (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. 
4. (1) No person shall use any public place— 
(a) as a permanent religious place, or 
(b) save with the previous permission, in writing, of the Collector 
in the district, or of the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, 
obtained in the prescribed manner, as a temporary religious 
place. 
(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to any cremation ground or 
burial place, or to the holding of any function or taking out of any 
procession in connection with death or marriage, or to any purely social 
and secular function or religious procession. 
5. (1) No person shall, without first obtaining in writing the 
permission of the Collector in the district, or of the Commissioner of 
Police in Calcutta,— 
(a) construct any public religious building, or 
(b) convert any private building or public building or private 
place or public place into a public religious building, or 
(c) convert any private religious building or private religious 
place into a public religious building or public religious 
place. 
Explanation 1.—Any temporary use of a building or 
place for religious purposes on occasions such as Holi, 
Muharram or similar other religious festivals, shall not be 
deemed to be a conversion of such building or place into 
a public religious building or public religious place. 
Explanation 11.—Any permission under this section 
shall be in addition to the permission or sanction as may 
be required to be obtained under any law for the time being 
in force. 
Bar to 
construction 
or 
conversion. 
Restrictions 
on use of 
public place 
for religious 
purposes. 
Construction 
etc. of public 
religious 
buildings. 
187 
The West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Section 6.) 
(2) Any person required to obtain permission for any construction 
or conversion under sub-section (1), shall first obtain permission for such 
construction or conversion from such local authority or officer having 
jurisdiction over the area as the State Government may, by notification, 
specify, and shall thereafter apply to the Collector in the district, or to 
the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, for permission under sub-
section (1) in the prescribed manner. 
Procedure to 
be followed 
by the 
Collector 
and the 
Commis-
sioner of 
Police. 
Power of 
Collector in 
the district 
and 
Commis-
sioner of 
Police in 
Calcutta to 
direct 
removal of 
unauthorised 
construction 
or 
conversion. 
6. (1) When an application for permission under section 4 or 
section 5 is made to the Collector in the district, or to the Commissioner 
of Police in Calcutta, the Collector or the Commissioner of Police, as 
the case may be, after making such inquiry as he may think necessary, 
may, by order, either disallow the application or grant the requisite 
permission unconditionally or with such conditions as to security or otherwise 
as he may consider reasonable in the circumstances of each case. 
(2) The order of the Collector in the district, or of the Commissioner 
of Police in Calcutta, under sub-section (1) shall be communicated, in 
writing, to the applicant and if the applicant does not receive such 
communication within four weeks in the case .of an application under 
section 4, or within six months in the case of an application under section 
5, calculated from the date of receipt of such application in the office 
of the Collector in the district or of the Commissioner of Police in 
Calcutta, as the case may be, the applicant shall be deemed to have obtained 
the permission under section 4 or section 5, as the case may be. 
7. (1) Subject to the provisions of section 12, where the Collector 
in the district, or the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, on receipt of 
any information or report or suo motu, has reasons to believe that a 
construction of any building or conversion of any building or place has 
been made in contravention of the provisions of this Act or of any 
permission thereunder, he shall, on such inquiry as he may consider 
necessary, cause to be notified in the locality by beat of drum and by 
affixing on a conspicuous part of such building or place and on the notice 
board of his office a notice, and shall also cause such notice to be served 
on the person or persons (if ascertainable) responsible for such construction 
or conversion, calling for objections, if any, within a period of fifteen 
days from the date of the notice as to why such construction or conversion 
should not be removed. 
(2) The Collector in the district, or the Commissioner of Police in 
Calcutta, shall, then, after considering the objections, if any, and after 
giving the. person or persons concerned an opportunity of being heard, 
decide the matter and record his findings thereon. 
188 
The West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985. 
XXXII of 1985.] 
(Sections 8, 9.) 
(3) If the Collector in the district or the Commissioner of Police in 
Calcutta, arrives at the finding that the construction or conversion has 
been made in contravention of the provisions of this Act or of any 
permission thereunder, he shall, by order, give directions for the removal 
of such construction or conversion and restoration of the building or 
place, as nearly as may be, to its original condition. 
(4) Where any direction under sub-section (3) of this section or any 
decision, on appeal, under section 8, is not complied with within a period 
of forty-five days from the date of such direction or decision, the Collector 
in the district or the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, shall cause such 
compliance to be made through a police officer not below the rank of 
Sub-Inspector, at the cost of the defaulter in the prescribed manner. 
8. (1) An appeal from an order under section 6 or section 7 shall 
lie to— 
(a) the Commissioner of the Division, where the order is made 
by the Collector, and 
(b) the Commissioner of Presidency Division, where the order 
is made by the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, 
and may be preferred in the prescribed manner within thirty days from 
the date of communication of the order to the applicant under sub-section 
(2) of section 6 or from the date of the order under sub-section (3) of 
section 7. 
(2) Any person aggrieved by any order, on appeal, under sub-section 
(1) may, within 60 days from the date of such order, prefer an appeal 
to the Board. 
(3) The State Government may,— 
(a) on an application made to it within the prescribed period 
by any person aggrieved by an order, on apeal, under sub-
section (2), revise such order, or 
(b) on its own motion, at any time, revise an order under section 
6 or section 7 or this section, provided that no order shall 
be made by the State Government under this clause without 
giving the person aggrieved an opportunity of being heard. 
9. No order made under this Act, either by a Collector in the district 
or by the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, or, on appeal, by the 
Commissioner of a Division or by the Board, or on revision by the State 
Government, shall be called in question in any Civil Court. 
Appeal and 
revision. 
Bar to 
jurisdiction 
of Civil 
Courts. 
189 
The West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985. 
[West Ben. Act XXXII of 1985.] 
(Sections 10-14.) 
Duration of 
permission. 
Penalty. 
Removal of 
un-
authorised 
work under 
Court's 
order. 
Cognizance 
of offences. 
Power to 
make rules. 
10. (1) Any permission under section 4 shall cease to have effect 
on the expiration of two months from the date of the order granting the 
same or from the day next after the date on which a public place is due 
to be used as a temporary public religious place, whichever is earlier. 
(2) Any permission under section 5 shall remain in force for a period 
of one year within which the construction or conversion permitted to be 
made may be commenced. 
11. Whoever contravenes, or attempts to contravene, or abets the 
contravention of, any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made 
thereunder or any condition subject to which a permission thereunder 
may have been granted, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either 
description for a term which may extend to three months or with fine 
which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both. 
12. (1) Any Court making an order of conviction for any offence 
under section 11 shall direct that any construction or conversion in 
contravention of the provisions of this Act or of any permission granted 
thereunder, if not already removed under the provisions of section 7, 
shall be removed so as to restore the building or the place in question 
as nearly as may be to its original condition. 
(2) In case of non-compliance of any direction under sub-section (1), 
the Court shall cause compliance of such direction to be made through 
a police officer, not below the rank of Sub-Inspector, at the cost of the 
defaulter in the prescribed manner. 
13. An offence under this Act shall be triable by a Sub-divisional 
Judicial Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class in the district 
or a Metropolitan Magistrate in Calcutta, on the complaint of the Officer-
in-charge of a police-station or of the Collector in the district or of the 
Commissioner of Police in Calcutta. 
14. (1) The State Government may, by notification, make rules for 
carrying out the provisions of this Act. 
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the 
foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the matters 
which, under any provision of this Act, are required to be prescribed or 
to be provided for by rules. 
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