Maheshwar at HC door against temple takeover

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, July 30

Himachal Lokhit Party president and Chief Kardar (caretaker) of Lord Raghunath temple Maheshwar Singh has challenged the government’s decision to take over the temple in the High Court.

Maheshwar contended in his petition that the temple was built and established by the Late Raja Jagat Singh and it’s a private property. It was further contended that the state could not take over this property by issuing a notification.

The petitioner challenged the decision of the government on the ground that the action of the state was illegal, arbitrary and against the provisions of the Constitution of India.

It was further contended that the government could not add the temple in the schedule of the Himachal Pradesh Religious and Charitable Endowment Act without proper inquiry and giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.

He further contended that the affairs of temple had been managed by his family since its establishment. It was alleged that no complaint of mismanagement was there against the petitioner and his family. It was further alleged that the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, had submitted a report to the state government on June 15, 2016, regarding the false representation and complaints of mismanagement. The petitioner was never given any notice by the DC before undertaking the inquiry.

After the notification by the government on the takeover of the temple earlier this week, the DC on July 26 had given seven-day time to Maheshwar Singh to hand over the records of the temple located in Sultanpur palace. The case will likely to come up for hearing before the court on August 1.