As per the order of High Court of Karnataka the process of taking over the administration of Mahabaleshwar Temple of Gokarna was initiated on Wednesday with Deputy Commissioner of Uttar Kannada district S.S. Nakul taking charge as Chairman of the Temple Monitoring Committee.
The Deputy Commissioner oversaw the process of taking possession of the valuables pertaining to the temple including ornaments. All the valuables were weighed, recorded and then taken over by the committee.
The temple was handed over to Sri Ramachandrapur Mutt in 2008 when the BJP government was in power, leading to both celebration and protests. A section of the devotees had raised objection to the handing over and approached the High Court of Karnataka. They had contended that the temple was governed by rules of Religious Endowment Act of 1997 and it was wrong to hand over the temple to a mutt.
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Subsequently, after hearing arguments, a divisional bench of the High Court comprising Justice B.V. Nagaratna and Justice Aravind Kumar had upheld their argument and annulled the government order and directed the State government to take back the administration of the temple.
Mr. Nakul told presspersons that the temple administration had been taken over as per the court order. He clarified that he was not aware of any confusion in the Ramachandrapur Mutt about the order. He said he had taken charge as per the guidelines issued by the Muzrai Department and very soon other members of the committee would be nominated.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Suresh Itnal, Assistant Commissioner Laxmipriya, Administrator Halappa and Tahsildar Megharaj were present.
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