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The Allahabad High Court last week dismissed a plea seeking directions for Union Of India Thru Secy. Home Affairs Ministry New Delhi to consider legislating a law regulating the religious conversion on the pattern of the law legislated on the subject by the State of U.P. and other States.

Taking into account the factual matrix of the present case, the division bench of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Manish Mathur relied upon the constitutional bench judgment of Supreme Court in Manoj Narula v. Union of India, (2014) where the similar relief was not maintainable in context of the Doctrine of Constitutional Trust.

“It was held that it cannot be believed that a constitutional authority or functionary would not act in accordance with and within the scope of its powers as indicated in the Constitution of India," the Court held.

The bench was hearing a plea wherein the petitioner prayed for “a writ of mandamus directing the concerned respondent to consider for legislating a law regulating the religious conversion on the pattern of the law legislated on the subject by the State of U.P. and other States.”

The Court noted that the Supreme Court also referred to various judgments in which it has been clearly held that “Courts have very limited role with regard to judicial legislation since neither the Courts can legislate nor they have any competence to issue directions to legislature to enact a law in a particular manner.”

The court relying on decision given in the above judgments also stated that no direction can be issued for enacting any legislation in any particular manner by High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

“So far as submission of petitioner in person is concerned that only a direction for consideration of petitioner's grievance has been made in the petition, aforesaid doctrine of constitutional trust also bars any grant of relief prayed for in the manner as envisaged in the petition," noted the bench.

Hence, the court dismissed the writ petition being devoid of the merits at the admission stage itself.

Case Title: Hindu Personal Law Board Thru Pres. Ashok Pandey (In Person) v. Union Of Bharat Thru Secy. Home Affairs Ministry New Delhi,2021