Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has directed the Anantnag deputy commissioner to immediately take over the management of two temples and their properties to preserve and protect them.
Hearing a petition on the management of the Shri Raghu Nath Mandir and the Nagbal Gautam Nag temple in the south Kashmir district, a bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice M A Chowdhary ruled that the properties vest in the deity and are therefore required to be managed effectively and peacefully.
“In this petition, there appears to be a claim and a counter-claim by the petitioner and the newly impleaded respondent with respect to the management of Shri Raghu Nath Mandir and Nagbal Gautam Nag temple, Anantnag,” it said.
“The petitioner claims that he, having been appointed as manager by Mahant Madhav Dasji, has been managing the affairs of both the temples since the 21st of June, 2010. It is claimed that the newly impleaded respondent, who is a stranger to the temples’ properties, is only a busy body having no interest or stake in the management of the properties and the temples,” the court said.
Having heard the counsel for the parties and perused the material on record, the court was of the opinion that the two shrines, along with the properties attached, are neither vested in the petitioner nor the newly impleaded respondent, it said.
“Keeping in view the rival claims made by the two sides, it would be appropriate that both the aforesaid temples and the properties attached thereto are put under the management of the deputy commissioner (district magistrate), Anantnag, leaving the petitioner as well as the newly impleaded respondent free to agitate their rights before the civil court,” the court ruled.
The district magistrate shall also ensure that the properties belonging to these temples are restored to the temples after following due process of law. The district magistrate may constitute a committee to manage the affairs of both the temples and their properties effectively, it said.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the J&K and Ladakh High Court ordered that Kashmiri Hindu temples/shrines left unattended and vulnerable to encroachments and land mafia be protected by the state.
Delivering a landmark judgement, Justice Sanjeev Kumar has allowed a petition by the members of the Kashmiri Pandit community and directed the district magistrate of north Kashmir Ganderbal district to preserve, protect and maintain two Hindu religious shrines namely ‘Asthapan Devraj Bharav’ situated in Nuner village of the district and ‘Vidhushe’ shrine and to take requisite steps under the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act 1997.
The petitioners had also raised a grievance against unscrupulous elements over the encroachment at the only cremation ground in Ganderbal district for the local Hindu community.
The petitioners held that after the migration of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, including the Ganderbal district in 1990, respondents number 5 and 6, who had themselves also migrated out of the Valley, had nothing to do with the management of these shrines, but had encumbered upon these by leasing them out to respondents number 7 and 8.
The petitioners held that respondents 5 and 6 in connivance with respondents 7 and 8 have destroyed, encroached upon and encumbered the shrine properties.
The high court order said, “Without going into the rival claims of the petitioners as well as respondents 5 and 6 to manage the shrines and its properties, suffice it to say that the District Magistrate, Ganderbal, in whom the migrant properties stand vested after the commencement of the Act of 1997, shall immediately take over and protect, preserve and manage both shrines and properties attached thereto.”
“He shall also initiate appropriate steps to ensure that all or any kind of encroachment made on the temple properties including the cremation ground is removed within a period of eight weeks from the date copy of this order is served upon him,” the order said.
“So far as the temple property under lease with the respondents 7 and 8 is concerned, admittedly the lease period has expired. There shall be no further extension of the lease and the property shall be taken over by the District Magistrate, Ganderbal. Any party feeling aggrieved of any encroachment on the aforesaid property by any person including the petitioners and respondents 5 to 8, shall be free to bring it to the notice of the District Magistrate, Ganderbal, for appropriate action,” the order said.
