NAINITAL: Uttarakhand high court remarking that due to failure of "the system" to accord and protect the dignity, honour and human rights of the persons belonging to lower castes, it has led to large scale conversions directed "the High caste priests throughout the State of Uttarakhand shall not refuse to perform religious ceremonies/puja/rituals on behalf of the members belonging to lower castes in all the religious places/temples". The court also ruled that all the persons, irrespective of their caste, are permitted to enter/visit any temple throughout the State of Uttarakhand without any discrimination in the spirit of the Constitution of India The copy of the order dated June 15, 2018 was released on Thursday. The order came while hearing a petition related to renovation of a "Dharamshala" with a temple of Saint Ravi Das and a bridge adjoining this facility and Har-Ki-Pauri.The division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Lok Pal Singh in the order dated June 15, 2018 remarking that the "High caste priests "cannot refuse to perform religious ceremonies on behalf of the persons belonging to lower caste, stated, "It is made clear that any properly trained and qualified person can be appointed as poojari irrespective of his caste in the temples, as laid down by Hon’ble Supreme Court."The court observing that the high caste priests were not accepting the alms offered by the pilgrims belonging to the lower caste and they used to refuse to perform the ceremonies on their behalf due to which this community (SC/ST) still goes to Maha-Brahmins for performing their religious chores which is against the spirit the Constitution of India remarked, "The exclusion of persons from temples open to worship to the Hindu public at large, only on the pretext that they belong to the excluded community, is violative of Article 17 of the Constitution of India. Every person to whatsoever caste he/she belongs has a right to visit/enter the temple and worship and perform religious ceremonies/rituals."Quoting the preamble of the Constitution, the bench in the order stated that we should strive for caste-less and class-less society and the creation of caste-less society was the aspiration of the Constitutional makers as is evident from the Preamble."It is the duty of the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation as per Article 46 of the Constitution of India," the bench said in the order.Remarking that it is the duty of every citizen under the Constitution to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women, the court directed Haridwar district administration to launch "special drive" to evict the unauthorized occupants near Chandi ghat/Chandi bridge opposite VIP ghat and to remove all the encroachment made on both the banks of river Ganges as well as public roads and public paths in Haridwar town by issuing four weeks' notice to the occupants.Sandeep Tiwari, counsel for the petitioner said, “The honorable court has directed the district administration is to hold parleys with the people responsible for managing the Dharamshala and the temple in it along with respectable members of SC/ST community before shifting the staircase from present place to maintain peace and harmony and the district magistrate, Haridwar shall ensure cleanliness and maintaining hygienic conditions on all the ghats in Haridwar. “The court directed the state government that since there is only one temple of lord Ravi Das near the Har-ki-Pauri to take all necessary steps to beautify the temple and its surroundings after holding consultation with people managing the Dharamshala and the temple along with “respected members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community within a period of three weeks from the date of production of certified copy of this order”.The court also ordered the commissioner of Garhwal division to hold inquiry against the officers/officials who have permitted the encroachment on the government land/public land/public roads within a period of ten weeks from today and the Haridwar district administration shall install nets at Subhash Ghat and Tulsi Ghat to collect trash/garbage from the river and dispose the same in a scientific manner.

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