Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Against Govt Managing Temple Properties

The Supreme Court, on Friday, refused to entertain a petition, inter alia, seeking uniformity in endowment laws, as it found that the prayers and averments in the plea were not appropriate to grant relief. The petitioner had raised an objection that "States are running temples".“We are unimpressed by the nature of prayers made and the averments and that is put to the Ld. Counsel that in the present format the Writ Petition cannot be entertained.”A Bench comprising Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice A.S. Oka asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and file afresh, seeking appropriate reliefs. The Bench noted the issue raised in the plea in its order, as under - “...the issue is confined to management by the Govt. of movable and immovable properties of religious places belonging to the majority.”The Senior Counsel implored the Bench to consider how the States are interfering in the affairs of the temples. Hearing his submission, Justice Kaul reckoned, “But see, some proper petition must come; with proper material. Not one who wakes up in the morning and decides to create another problem.” In view of the same, the petitioner was advised to withdraw and file a fresh petition. Before the Bench expressed its concern about the prayers and averments made in the petition, the Senior Counsel had requested it to be tagged with another petition seeking similar relief, pending before the Apex Court. The Counsel was referring to the petition filed by Advocate, Mr. Ashwini Upadhyay seeking to declare that Hindus, Jains, Buddhist and Sikhs have similar rights to establish, manage and maintain the religious places and to own, acquire and administer movable and immovable properties of their religious places just like Muslims and Christians. [Case Title: Narendra Gour v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 45/2023]Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Against Govt Managing Temple Properties

Sohini Chowdhury

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