- Section of priests celebrates after district administration takes control
Gokarna: The decade-old dispute of handing over the control of Mahabaleshwar Temple, at Gokarna, in Uttara Kannada district, to Sri Ramachandrapura Math, in Hosanagara taluk, of Shivamogga district, has ultimately saw its logical end.
On Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner S S Nakul initiated the process of taking over the administration of the temple, as per the order of Karnataka High Court. After taking charge as the chairman of the Temple Monitoring Committee, Nakul said the administrative committee of the temple will be formed soon.
The deputy commissioner also monitored the process of taking possession of the valuables of the temple. The valuables including the ornaments were weighed and recorded before taking over.
Meanwhile, Shambhu Sharma, the lawyer arguing on behalf of the mutt, opposed the district administration taking over the mutt as per the high court order. He said that it was not possible to hand over the administration of the mutt to the district administration as the Supreme Court had ordered to continue the status quo. However, Nakul said that they had received clear order from the government. They had even sought the opinion of the advocate general and they were following the orders. He told the lawyer that they were just doing their duty and he cannot hinder them.
State Endowment Minister Rajshekhar Patil called the deputy commissioner to enquire about the temple transfer process and ensure that the deputy commissioner was present there to monitor the entire process.
He asked the deputy commissioner to make sure that the transfer process went on peaceful.
Meanwhile, a section of priests and leaders of the temple, who were against the Ramachandrapura Math taking over the temple, distributed sweets after the temple once again came under the Endowment Department. They put a ‘pradakshana’ around the temple thanking the God. Those in favour of the mutt were not seen in the temple.
It can be recalled that the temple was handed over to the Ramachandrapur Math in 2008 when the BJP government was in power.
Recently, the Karnataka High Court had quashed the decision taken by the state government and had ordered the Endowment Department to take over the temple administration.