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Supreme Court directed constitution of a committee under the chairmanship of Former Supreme Court Judge, Shri BN Srikrishna, to oversee the working of the Mahabaleshwara Temple in accordance with all tradition and customs.

A Full Bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian while delivering verdict in the appeal filed against the order of Karnataka High Court, quashing the 2008 G.O. handing over management of Mahabaleshwara temple at Gokarna to Sri Ramachandrapura Math, observed, “Committee shall oversee the working of the Temple and take over the management, under the Chairmanship of former judge Shri BN Srikrishna… Math shall hand over the management to the commissioner followed further to the Committee.”

Earlier the Bench through Hon’ble Chief Justice Bobde noted, “There was a matter argued by Dr. Swamy, where it was disputed that whether the priest should have it or the Government should have it. It is not the same in this case. Here the dispute is who in non-government sector should have it. One of the discussions we are having is that this cannot be a precedent for other case, like Kanchi math etc.”

Learned Senior Counsel Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued for the petitioner.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy appeared for the Interveners.

Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar appeared for the State, with the learned AAG Mr. Goel for the State of Karnataka.

It was the submission of Dr. Singhvi that; 

(1) Exclusionary clause as mentioned under Section 1(4) must be given effect in letter and spirit;

(2) There has been an enquiry in the matter, with due application of mind;

(3) If there are any anomalies or differences, an enquiry may be directed by the present Court;

(4) The status quo should maintain.

Reference was also made to historical facts suggesting the administration of Temple through a Math, to establish the interlinking of the two.

Senior Counsel Ranjit Kumar argued that the State took an informed decision of denotifying other temples in the State as well, based on inputs by tehsildar, deputy commissioner and the Advocate general.

In 2008, A PIL was initially filed by Sri Samsthana Mahabaleshwara Devaru, a registered trust and its trustee, Balachandra Vigneshwara Dixit, and several others from Gokarna and other places in Karnataka High Court against the order that excluded allied temples from the notified list of April 30, 2003, and handed them over to the math. 

The Division Bench of Karnataka High Court noted that the Government had no power to exclude the temples by way of a notification under the General Clauses Act’s provisions. Further, an Overseeing Committee, which was supposed to start functioning from September 10, 2018, to be headed by the Uttara Kannada Deputy Commission was also constituted to monitor the daily affairs of Mahabaleshwara and allied temples. Justice BN Srikrishna, former Supreme Court judge, was appointed as adviser to the Committee.

The Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada district was also directed to prepare an inventory of movable & immovable assets and prepare bank accounts of the temple. Concerning the question as to whether Gokarna temple is attached to math, the Bench, while observing that the same was a mixed question of facts and law, had observed;

“The documents produced by the mutt in these writ petitions cannot be considered as conclusive proof of the said fact. The disputed question of fact cannot be decided in these writ petitions by exercising power under the Article 226 of Constitution of India, but it would have to be tried and decided by a competent civil court” 

Thus, the Bench, while declaring the order illegal, noted that, 

“Deletion of the temple from the notification and handing over to the mutt is an improper exercise of power and hit by Article 14 of the Constitution, and action of the government is tainted as it is not for a bona fide, but to confer a benefit on the respondent mutt”. 

Case Title: Ramachnadrapura Math V. Sri Samsthana Mahabaleshwara Devaru & Ors.