Gokarna Temple: Supreme Court allows Karnataka govt to appoint fresh members in Justice Srikrishna led overseeing panel

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a plea by the Karnataka government to reconstitute an overseeing committee for the management of Gokarna Mahabaleshwara Temple.

The shrine, situated in Uttara Kannada district, is also known as 'Dakshina Kashi'.

A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took into record a report by Justice B N Srikrishna who was appointed to head the committee to take over the management of the temple on April 19, 2021.

In his report, Justice Srikrishna cited "hurdles" created in managing the affairs of the temple. He said "regular interference in the functioning of the committee, the lack of any support, and obstruction at every step have made it impossible for me to effectively continue as Chairman."

The committee was constituted with eight members. Of which, three members are ex- officio (the Deputy Commissioner of the District, the Assistant Commissioner of the Taluka, and the Superintendent of Police of the District). There are four private persons nominated as members by the Karnataka government.

Since the court has not framed any rules of procedure for conduct of the committee's business, decisions are required to be taken 'by majority', he said.

"In practice, no decisions are taken unless there is unanimous approval. There is no formal voting, and I do not have a casting vote despite being the Chairman. Several of my views are not acceptable to the first set of private persons nominated by the state government. Every important decision has seen deadlock," he said.

Justice Srikrishna, former SC judge, also accused private members of "carrying forward interest of Mutt" and even ex officio members were "unwilling to take a firm stand" and "to conduct themselves independently in financial and other matters".

In its application, the Karnataka government represented by advocate D L Chidananda also sought the court's permission to replace its members by appointing Ganapathi Shivarama Hirebhat as Upadivanta, Subramanya Chandrashekar Adi as Upadivanta, Parameshwara Subramanya Prasad Ramani and Mahesh Ganesh Hiregange as eminent persons.

It also noted Income Tax issue and audit of the accounts since 2008 were serious issues.

Seeking fresh appointments, it said, "There are also some concerns in local quarters about the perceived proximity of the old members to the petitioner Mutt, which would defeat the entire purpose of the committee."

The state government said it sought to appoint fresh members to the committee on July 12, 2023 but the High Court first stayed it on a petition filed by Mutt and finally on January 23, 2024 quashed it, saying the applicant state has to seek permission from the apex court before making fresh nominations.

In its 2021 order, the apex court has directed Ramchandrapura Mutt, which was managing the temple by virtue of the top court's previous order, to hand over the charge of the shrine to the Assistant Commissioner, who was directed also act as secretary of the ‘overseeing committee’.

The matter arose before the top court after the mutt challenged the Karnataka High Court's judgement of August 10, 2018, which had quashed the B S Yediyurappa government's decision of August 12, 2008, to hand over the control of the temple to the mutt.

The petitioner, along with its pontiff Raghaveshwara Bharathi, claimed its history dated back to the 8th century AD when it was established by Adi Shankaracharya, who formed a ‘mutt’ at Gokarna and ordered his disciples to look after the affairs of the Gokarna Temple.

The top court, however, had said no documents to establish the fact of the temple belonging to the ‘mutt’ was brought to its notice.

"Since a final decision is to be taken in these appeals, the appropriate course in the interest of the temple as well as the devotees as also the ‘mutt’ would be to allow the administration of the temple by an independent committee," the court had then said in its order.