HC sets aside order staying dissolution of Badri-Kedar committee

  • | Thursday | 12th July, 2018

The state government again dissolved the committee on June 8, 2017, by issuing a notification invoking a special clause. Besides managing the temples, the committee also operates three Sanskrit PG colleges in the state and also offers diploma in pharmacy through an institution. NAINITAL: The Uttarakhnad high court on Wednesday set aside the order of a single-judge bench dated September 5, 2017, that cancelled the dissolution of the Shri Badarinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, the body responsible for management of the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines. The office-bearers of the committee then approached the HC against the state government's decision. The HC on May 30, 2017, ordered the government to restore the committee.

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhnad high court on Wednesday set aside the order of a single-judge bench dated September 5, 2017, that cancelled the dissolution of the Shri Badarinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, the body responsible for management of the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines. The committee has the mandate to govern the two temples and 52 other subordinate shrines.Following the order of the single-judge bench of justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, the state government filed a special appeal challenging the order and pleaded that a division-bench should hear the matter. Speaking to TOI, chief standing counsel of Uttarakhand high court Paresh Tripathi said, “The honorable court set has aside the order of the single-judge bench order t hat cancelled the dissolution of the Shri Badarinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee .”The matter was heard by a division bench of Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma.In one of the first moves that the TS Rawat-led BJP government did in Uttarakhand soon after coming to power last year was to dissolve the cash-rich committee on April1, 2017. The office-bearers of the committee then approached the HC against the state government's decision. The HC on May 30, 2017, ordered the government to restore the committee. The state government again dissolved the committee on June 8, 2017, by issuing a notification invoking a special clause. On June 15, 2017, the HC again stayed the dissolution of the committee.The petitioners had told the court that the committee, which has a tenure of three years and was constituted by the previous Congress government in December 2016, with Ganesh Godiyal, an ex-MLA from Srinagar and Congress member, as its head should be allowed to complete its tenure. The petitioners had alleged that the state government dissolved the committee without any prior notice or knowledge of anyone in the committee.The committee comprises a total of 18 members, including the chairman and vice-chairman who are nominated by the government and are generally legislators. The zila parishads of Tehri, Uttarkashi, Pauri and Chamoli districts nominate one member each while the state government nominates 10 more members to the committee. The legislative assembly also nominates three members to the committee.The two temples of Badrinath and Kedarnath receive an estimated fund of Rs 15 crore annually, mainly through donations by devotees and by conducting special prayers and rituals. Besides managing the temples, the committee also operates three Sanskrit PG colleges in the state and also offers diploma in pharmacy through an institution.

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