By Diksha-
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the Uttarakhand High Court’s Judgment ratifying the takeover of Char Dham and 51 other temples by the State Government under the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act.
The Act was passed in the Legislative Assembly in December 2019. He stated that the above Act is unconstitutional and against Articles 31-A(1)(b), 25 and 26 of the Constitution.
It was submitted that worshippers from various religious denominations are a part of the temples, and therefore they have a right to maintain and administer them.
Swamy had earlier filed a petition in the High Court against the judgment but it had been dismissed by the HC stating that Shivaites and Vaishnavites are not religious denominations and should not even be classified as one.
His petition read, “The actions of the state government make a mockery of the constitutional principles and abuse of the legal process and statuary power and vitiated by malafide and extraneous considerations.”
Swamy cited various previous judgments of the SC where it had blatantly been against temple takeovers by the Governments including the Nataraja Temple Judgment. The SC has mentioned many times before that Governments cannot take over temples for an indefinite period of time.
Speaking against the Act, Swamy stated that it provided for the Chief Minister to be the head of the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board and if the CM is not a Hindu, then the Senior-most Hindu member has to be appointed in the position.
Further, the controvercial Act contemplates positions for MPs and MLAs in the Board and says that an IAS Officer is to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Board!
Apart from Swamy, two NGO’s namely- People for Dharma and Indic Collective have also appealed against the decision. The appeal is expected to be heard by the SC in the coming weeks.