Gangtok, Aug. 29: Sikkim High Court has dismissed the plea of Tsurphu Labrang, the administrative body of the Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre, that it be made a party in the suit filed by the Karmapa Charitable trust (KCT).

The division bench of Chief Justice R.K. Patra and N. Surjyamani Singh, in its judgment passed on Wednesday, said it found no “merit” in the composite application filed by Tsurphu Labrang and dismissed the plea after imposing a “cost” of Rs 3,000.

The court said the application looked “innocuous” and the Tsurphu Labrang’s intention appeared to be to project and get declared Orgyen Trinley Dorji as the 17th Karmapa.

The Tsurphu Labrang had moved the high court after it lost similar petitions in the district and sessions court (east) in Gangtok, where the case is being heard.

In the suit filed by the KCT in July 1998, it claimed it was the legal caretaker of the property at Rumtek. The trust demanded that it be handed over the keys of the main shrine of the Dharma Chakra centre in Rumtek, which was taken by the state government and the present regent incharge there, Goshir Gyaltshab Rinpoche, in 1993.

The trust appealed for a status quo ante and said it should control the keys for discharging its duties as the rightful trustee of the property at Rumtek.

The Tsurphu Labrang also claims to be the trustees of the monastery as it is the administrative wing of the monastery.

Members of the KCT were driven away from Rumtek in 1993 after a row between two factions. The army and police had been called into the monastery to restore normality.

The KCT is headed by Shamar Rinpoche, one of the four regents of the Rumtek monastery. Shamar Rinpoche has been barred from entering Sikkim by the government of India.