LUCKNOW: The ordinance making forced religious conversion unlawful was tabled on the first day of the budget session of UP assembly on Thursday. It would be turned into a bill if passed by both legislative assembly and the council.
The state cabinet had passed the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 in November making forced religious conversion punishable in Uttar Pradesh with a jail term between 1 and 10 years and a fine between Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000.
The ordinance declared conversions as unlawful if done through marriage or misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other allegedly fraudulent means. The ordinance was promulgated in November last year after it was passed by the state cabinet.
Violation of the provisions of the ordinance would invite a jail term of not less than one year, extendable to five years, with a fine of Rs 15,000. However, if a minor, a woman or person belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes communities was converted through the said unlawful means, the jail term would be a minimum of three years and could be extended to 10 years with a fine of Rs 25,000.
The house was also informed that the bills provisioning 10% reservation for the economically poor upper caste and recovery of damages to public and private properties have returned to the UP assembly without undergoing any amendments by the UP legislative council last year.
The bills on reservation for the economically poor upper caste and recovery of damages to public and private properties had come back to UP assembly in August last year after being taken up for discussion in the upper house of state assembly.
The bill on reservation for economically poor paves way for providing 10% reservation in public services and posts in favour of those belonging to the economically weaker section in addition to the existing quota for SC/ST and socially and educationally backward classes. The bill was tabled and passed by the UP assembly on February 27 last year after the state cabinet ratified reservation for economically weaker section amongst the upper caste.
Likewise, the UP recovery of damages to public and private properties bill, was passed by the UP assembly on August 22 last year. It was also returned to the UP assembly by legislative council on August 23 without making any amendment. The bill had replaced the ordinance which was promulgated by the state government in the backdrop of the protests against the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act. The bill aims at dealing with all acts of violence at public places and to control its persistence and escalation, and to provide for the recovery of damage to public or private property during strike, bandh, riots, public commotion or protests.
Among other ordinances tabled in the assembly were related to UP pension and service, UP cinema (regulation) and UP sugarcane (supply and regulation) and on tenancy (regulation).
The house was also informed that the bill on the UP education service tribunal, 2019, had been returned by the governor who has asked the house to reconsider it. The bill entails setting up a specialized education service tribunal – with jurisdiction over all districts -- at Lucknow.
Similarly, the UP Industrial Disputes (amendment) bill, 2017, provisioning direct access for the workman in the labour court or tribunal in case of disputes arising out of Section 2-A pertaining to retrenchment, discharge, dismissal or termination of services has also been returned by the governor for reconsideration of the house.