Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, seer and president of Sri Jagadguru Murugarajendra Brihan Mutt, who is facing the allegation of sexually assaulting minor girls, on Wednesday moved the High Court of Karnataka seeking direction to the prison authorities to permit him to affix signatures to cheques and related documents for disbursement of salaries.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna, before whom the petition came up for hearing, adjourned further hearing till September 29 while directing the seer to file a statement explaining the particulars of documents and cheques to be signed.
Explain
The court also asked him to explain how he was disbursing salaries to the employees of the mutt and the educational institutions run by the mutt in the usual course before his arrest when his counsel said that he has to sign around 200 cheques and related documents for disbursement of salaries to more than 3,500 employees of the mutt and its educational institutions, and amounts for day-to-day management of the mutt and its institutions.
The seer had filed an application before the trial court in Chitradurga as the prison authorities did not permit him to affix signatures to cheques and related documents. He approached the High Court as the trial court on September 20 rejected his plea while stating that the Memorandum of Association of the mutt’s trust allows governing committee to manage the affairs.
The court said its only concern is that situation faced by the seer should not result in starvation of the employees of the institutions.
However, it has been contended in the petition that the seer is the sole trustee and as its president, only he is legally authorised to sign the cheques, negotiable instruments and operate bank accounts of the mutt and its institutions, and the trial court has erred in its conclusion that his signature is not required as the governing council can take care of the affairs of the mutt.
