A Christian welfare society challenged the rejection of its cemetery land request in Ghaziabad. The court held that religious freedom does not guarantee conversion of a specific public plot.
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Prayagraj,Oct 14, 2026 22:12 IST
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the right to freedom of religion, including the right to perform last rites according to religious beliefs, does not allow a community to claim a specific plot owned by a local body for a cemetery.
The court dismissed a petition by the Christian Community Welfare Society challenging the rejection of its request to convert barren land in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, into a Christian cemetery. The society said the existing cemetery in the area was running short of space, causing difficulties in conducting funerals.
A bench of Justices J J Munir and Indrajeet Shukla said on Monday that converting land entrusted to a gram sabha or local body into public-utility land for use as a graveyard was an executive decision. It said authorities must consider several factors and possible circumstances before taking such a decision.
"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 society had challenged a January 7 order of the Ghaziabad district magistrate rejecting its proposal to earmark and reserve 0.342 hectares in Visokhar village for a Christian cemetery. The proposal required changing the land's recorded classification from Class 6(4), or barren land.
The court said that if there was a shortage of burial space, the authorities could consider such a request while keeping in mind the wider and diverse public interests of residents in the area.
The 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 help perform the last rites of Christians. It said Christians in the surrounding area faced considerable hardship because the existing Christian cemetery at Begamabad Budana was running short of space.
The court, however, held that religious freedom did not create an enforceable right to have a particular plot converted into a cemetery and that any request for land must be decided by the authorities after considering the broader public interest.
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