Ranchi, Aug. 16: Jharkhand High Court today appointed Dilip Jeruth as the amicus curae (friend of the court) and directed him to file a report on the condition of the Lord Vaidyanath temple at Deoghar and its management. The court has set a deadline of August 24 to file the report.
A division bench of Chief Justice P.K.I. Balasubramanyan and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay gave the order while hearing a petition of Religious Trust Board of Deoghar.
The board has filed the petition to modify the high court order, dated May 8, 2001, which provides a 12-member committee for the management of the Deoghar temple.
The board has sought a clarification on its status after constitution of the committee. It has asked the court whether the committee has greater authority than the board or whether it now stands superceded.
The petition also highlights the irregularities made by the management committee consituted in the light of high court order. According to the petition, the management failed to save Radha Krisha temple, Sardar Panda Gaddi and the place of workship of Khatkahatia Maa.
The petitioner has submitted that the high court order has enabled non-Hindus to become ex-officio members of the temple committee.
“How can the police superintendent and the MP, who are not Hindus, be members of the temple management committee when the laws do not allow that,” the petitioner argued.
The high court, while hearing the peition of the board, also decided to hear a PIL on mismanagement of Kawaria Dharamshala on August 24.
Lambodar Pathak, who donated the dharamshala to the mandir trust in 1979, has filed the petition alleging that the management committee was misusing the dharamshala for non-religious purposes.