SUNKADAKATTE SHRI KOTADA BABBU DAIVASTHANADA POSHAKA SAMITHI Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER DAKSHINA KANNADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has sought for quashing the order Annexure -A dated 11.12.2012 passed by the first respondent,. by which, the Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore, has referred the request of the petitioner to the Commissioner, Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department (in short 'HR and CE'), Bangalore for consideration and decision. Sunkadakatte Shri Kotada Babbu Devasthana, Urva Stores, Mangalore Town is the temple in respect of which dispute has arisen. The petitioner claims to be Daivasthanada Poshaka Samithi and that the said committee is entitled to perform pooja and jatra every year One Sri. Shivaraj shetty, S/o. K. Narayana Shetty, Ashoknagar, Urva Stores, Mangalore claims that his ancestors have established the said temple and that therefore the temple belongs to him personally. The dispute between the petitioner and Sri. Shivaraj Shetty seems to be existing since more than 40 to 50 years. Suits are filed before the Civil Court and certain orders are passed. However, the fact remains that the litigation continues till this day.

(2.) LAST year, similar dispute arose in respect of the said temple and at that point of time, the Deputy Commissioner passed the order as per Annexure -D dated 25.2.2011 declaring the temple as a public institution/temple as defined under Section 2(27) of the Karnataka Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997. The temple is situated in the Government land. The Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore, while passing the order dated 25.1.2011 appointed Sri. K. Shivaraj Shetty as the Administrator to perform day -to -day affairs in respect of the temple. The said order was questioned by the petitioner before the Commissioner(HR and CE), Bangalore by filing appeal in R.P.No. 14/2010 -11. In the said appeal, the Appellate Authority passed the impugned order on 4.2.2011 directing both the parties i.e., the petitioner and Sri. Shivaraj Shetty to perform jatra/annual festival jointly as was done in the previous years. The matter is still pending consideration before the Commissioner/First Appellate Authority.

(3.) IN the normal course, this Court would have directed the Commissioner(HR and CE) to consider the matter and pass orders in accordance with law at an early date, but in view of urgency, as the annual festival/jatra is scheduled to be held on 2.2.2013 and 3.2.2013, this Court proposes to dispose of the writ petition on merits, only in respect of grant of permission to perform jatra/annual festival.