Daijiworld Media Network – Chikmagalur (SP)

Chikmagalur, Mar 2: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday March 1, permitted Sayyed Ghouse Mohiyuddin Shakhadri, to conduct religious activities connected with ‘Sajjda’ and ‘Sandal Uroos’ at the disputed shrine, Guru Dattreya Bababudangiri Dargah near here from March 1 to 4.

The division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice R V Ravindran and Justice A K Patnaik, which admitted a petition filed by Shakhadri requesting permission to hold religious activities at the disputed shrine, granted the above permission. The Supreme Court in its order made a mention about the December 1, 2008, order to maintain status quo at the shrine and directed that Shakhadri should not be constrained from holding the Uroos as requested. The court interpreted the status quo order as including conducting of Uroos activities, and warned the state government not to interfere with its order. It noted that a contempt of court petition filed against the state chief secretary is already at the hearing stage in the court.

Advocates, Jaiveer Shergill and Neela Gokhale, who appeared on behalf of the petitioners, said that the Sandal Uroos is traditionally being conducted at the site since long, even prior to 1975, and that the state government is not allowing the concerned to conduct this religious activity. They said that the government has been curtailing the rights of the petitioners as regards the earlier order of the Supreme Court to maintain status quo.

The court is now considering the issue of whether the state government or Shakhadri have rights to manage the disputed shrine.