Greeva Garg –
Jammu & Kashmir High Court while hearing a plea asked the Union Territory Administration to explore the possibility of having uniform legislation for governing the place of worship.
The division bench comprising of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Sanjay Dhar asked Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, for the submission of a report as to, “Whether any land of the temple has been encroached upon and is in unauthorized possession of any third party.”
Framing the provisions of the Jammu & Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, the petitioner filed a plea before the J&K High Court alleging that property rights of the temple Shri Amba Sharika Chakreshwar Sanstha, Hari Parbat, Srinagar are being intruded.
The petitioner has been taking care of the affairs of the temple for a very long time.
The Advocate General for Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, D.C. Raina notified the Court about certain pending matters filed in the public interest similar to the subject matter for the preservation of temples and places of worship.
The Advocate General submitted that the current matter could be taken up along with the pending matters for uniform justification.
Directing that a copy of the writ petition be supplied to the Advocate General, the Court said that, “The Advocate General may explore the possibility of having a uniform legislation governing the places of worship.”