Kriti Agrawal
A bench consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued the order to appointed a committee to oversee the Mahabaleshwar temple in Gokarna, led by retired Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna.
In an appeal against 2018 Karnataka High Court judgment that had quashed the government’s order handing over management of Mahabaleshwar temple in Gokarna to Ramchandrapura Math, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued the order that:
“We direct that the overseeing committee be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice BN Srikrishna. The appellant must turn the charge over to the Assistant Commissioner, who will report to the oversight committee.”
It was also stated that the overseeing committee must operate in accordance with all temple customs and traditions.
Previously court stayed, the Karnataka High Court order that handed over temple administration to a committee led by Justice Sri Krishna.
The committee has been instructed to take over the management of the mutt from the appellant-mutt.
The petitions were filed in response to the impugned final judgment and order of the Karnataka high court on April 10, 2018, which had quashed a government order dated April 12, 2008, which de-notified the Gokarna Mahabaleshwar temple from the purview of section 23 of the Karnataka Hindu religious institutions and charitable endowments act 1997.
In August 2018, the Karnataka High Court overturned the 2008 government’s decision to hand over management of Mahabaleshwar Temple to Sri Ramchandrapura Mutt.
The court also formed an oversight committee, led by Uttara Kannada deputy commissioner (DC), to oversee the daily operations of the Mahabaleshwar and other related temples, and appointed B.N. Sri Krishna, a former Supreme Court judge, as the committee’s advisor.