Date:20/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/20/stories/2006092008080500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

High Court quashes Hindu Endowment Act again

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday allowed appeals by scores of temples and struck down the Karnataka Hindu Charitable Endowment Act of 1997. This is the second time this month that the court has quashed the Act.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice S. Abdul Nazir, on Tuesday allowed appeals by temples from several districts against a single judge order upholding the Act and Government monitoring of religious institutions.

The temples had challenged the single judge order, saying that it is discriminatory and that it is not uniformly applicable to all religious institutions.

On September 8, another Division Bench comprising Justice R. Gururajan and Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy had struck down the Karnataka Hindu Charitable Endowment Act and upheld appeals by temples challenging several provisions of the Act.

The temples had appealed against a single judge order upholding the validity of the Act and the Government's right to appoint an Endowment Commissioner, audit temple funds, appoint archakas (priests), constitute a committee to monitor the temple affairs and create a common pool fund.

The appellants had contended that the act is flawed and discriminatory and that it targeted at only a few religious establishments and that it does not cover Mutts and other religious institutions.

The single judge had said that five per cent of the annual income of the temple would go to the common pool fund. This fund would not go to the general fund of the Government but be used for establishing Agama and Veda Patashalas. Every notified institution under the Act was entitled to seek such aid.

Striking down the Act, the court had said that any Act could not be selective in its application. The Division Bench of Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice S. Abdul Nazir said it agreed with the views expressed by the earlier Bench and allowed the appeals by nearly a hundred temples challenging a single judge order and seeking quashing of the Act.