The High Court of Karnataka on Monday quashed the Government Order (GO) appointing an administrator to Jagadguru Murugharajendra Bruhan Math, Chitradurga, and gave liberty to the devotees of the mutt and prominent leaders of Veerashaiva/Lingayat community to devise an appropriate action plan to administer and manage the mutt and educational institutions run under its aegis.
“The Karnataka Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (Amendment) Act, 2011, insulates the mutts from State interference, be it administrative functions, religious rites, or other temporal activities. If that be so, it is un-understandable, to say the least, as to how an administrator can be appointed by the government of the day,” the court observed.
Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while allowing the petitions filed by the mutt and its devotees questioning the legality of the State government’s executive order, issued on December 13, 2022, under Article 162 of the Constitution of India, appointing a retired IAS officer as the mutt administrator. The government appointed administrator after mutt’s seer, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, was arrested in a sexual assault case in September 2022.
