J.P. Badoni vs State of Uttarakhand and others

Barin Ghosh, C.J.—Heard learned counsel for the parties. Perused the records of the case.

It appears that in 1996, a few people died by reason of stampede on a bridge at Hardwar. The then State Government appointed a one-man inquiry commission for the purpose of ascertaining the reason of the said stampede and the manner and means to prevent the same. The Commission submitted its report in 1996, where, amongst others, it observed that the trustees of Ganga Sabha and the trustees of Mansa Devi Temple and Chandi Devi Temple are collecting huge sums of moneys from the pilgrims but those moneys are not being spent for the improvement of the facilities for pilgrims and also for improvement of charitable religious properties. The Commission recommended that the State Government must take action as it took in relation to Kashi Vishwanath Temple and as the State Government of Jammu & Kashmir took steps in relation to Vaishno Devi Temple. As it appears to us, this recommendation by the Commission was beyond the scope of reference to the Commission. We feel that in such view of the matter, the State Government did not give much credence to the said recommendation. The matter remained pending until the present writ petition was filed in 2011, whereby and under, the writ petitioner is seeking a direction upon the State Government to take steps as the State of Uttar Pradesh had taken in respect of Kashi Vishwanath Temple. In its counter affidavit, the State Government has indicated that the matter is complex and as yet it has not been able to make up its mind one way or the other. We feel that it is beyond the competence of this Court to issue such direction, inasmuch as in order to implement such direction the State Government would be required to legislate and the Court is incompetent to direct the State Government to legislate.

From the pleadings of the parties, it appears that during the British Raj an attempt was made to divert the flow of river Ganga. In the event such attempt was successful, the flow of river Ganga near Har-ki-Pairi at Hardwar would have stopped. Since a large section of the people professing Hindu religion have faith and belief that flow of river Ganga over Har-ki-Pairi has a great religious significance, people started a movement to stop the then British Government to stop flow of river Ganga over Har-ki-Pairi. The movement of the people succeeded and the then British Government agreed not to stop flow of river Ganga near Har-ki-Pairi. It appears to be the contention of the parties herein that the said movement ultimately gave birth to Ganga Sabha, which, later on, became a registered society for the purpose of carrying out charitable religious work associated with river Ganga flowing near Har-ki-Pairi and in the nearby Ghats. It is claimed and contended by the present trustees of Ganga Sabha that persons associated with Ganga Sabha are dedicated to help pilgrims to perform their Poojas and to complete their religious journey to Har-ki-Pairi. At the same time, it has also been accepted by them that for the purpose of carrying out such charitable religious activities, Ganga Sabha collects donations from people and for that purpose has installed donation boxes in and around Har-ki-Pairi and nearby Ghats.

There is no dispute that both Chandi Devi Temple and Mansa Devi Temple are ancient temples carrying ancient Hindu heritage associated with them. In the passage of time the management and administration of these temples vested in the trustees, who discharge duties and responsibilities vested in trustees of public religious and charitable trusts. It is also true that the trustees of these trusts do collect donations in the form of offerings given to the deities installed in these temples and also donations given otherwise.

Since collections, thus, made by Ganga Sabha and the said two temples are in the nature of collection of donations for public religious and charitable purposes, it is incumbent on the part of the trustees to keep and maintain proper and perfect accounts in respect thereof and to ensure utilization thereof only in relation thereto and for no other purpose.

In the circumstances, for the present, while we direct removal of donation boxes installed by Ganga Sabha or by the trustees of the said temples, but permit them to collect donations against receipts to be issued by the trustees thereof. Ganga Sabha and the trustees of those temples shall maintain proper account of such donations collected as well as offerings given to the deities of those two temples either in cash or in the form of valuable materials. They shall use those collections only for charitable and religious purposes and for no other purpose. For the purpose of ensuring that the said responsibilities are duly discharged, we direct Ganga Sabha and the trustees of the said two trusts to co-opt the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police of Hardwar, in their ex officio capacity, to the trusts. The District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Hardwar are directed to ensure that the accounts of collections and disbursement of these three institutions are correctly and appropriately reflected in their respective accounts and those are spent for charitable and religious purposes and for no other purpose.

Ganga Sabha is restrained from preventing any person to perform Pooja at Har-ki-Pairi or at Ghats adjacent thereto. It is made clear that right to perform or conduct Pooja shall not vest exclusively in the Brahmins residing in and around Hardwar, which is a regular complain, received even by the Chief Justice of this Court through letters written by a number of pilgrims, which letters have been brought in and kept as part of the records of the present case.

Similar complaints have been received on many other counts. In order to sort the same out, we direct the Senior Superintendent of Police, Hardwar to keep and maintain a register to be kept open for recording entries therein by all and sundry in respect of any complain against any person in connection with any matter at or around Har-ki-Pairi and the Ghats adjacent thereto and also in and around the said two temples for 24 hours, 365 days and in case of leap years for 366 days. Any entry made in the register should be inquired within 24 hours and in the event the inquiry reveals that a case has been made out, in respect whereof a First Information Report may be lodged, such a report should be lodged by the appropriate officer conducting the inquiry and on the basis thereof investigation shall start. Right to make an entry in the register shall be in addition to right to file F.I.R. In the event such enquiry reveals that though there is no need to file F.I.R., but the matter complained of requires redressal, the same should be redressed in accordance with law in consultation with the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police. Ganga Sabha and the trustees of the said two temples are directed to put up billboards at appropriate places where the same can be viewed by anyone visiting Har-ki-Pairi or the said two temples denoting that such a register is available at the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Hardwar where all and every type of complaints, as mentioned above, may be registered and if registered, the same will be inquired within 24 hours.

The learned counsel for the petitioner sought to make submissions relating to Takhts which have come up on the banks of river Ganga near Har-ki-Pairi. In the absence of specific pleadings in respect thereof, we have not gone into that question.

With the directions as above, we dispose of the writ petition.