Supreme Court directs Karnataka to hand over administration of Gokarna Temple to Sri Ramchandrapura Mutt (for now)

The Supreme Court has directed that the status quo which existed on September 7, 2018 with respect to the administration of the Mahabaleshwara Gokarna Temple and its assets be maintained..This would mean that the State of Karnataka has to hand over the administration of Mahabaleshwara Gokarna Temple and its assets back to Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt (Mutt), presently headed by Adiguru Shankaracharya..The order was passed by a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph, AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on November 1..The Mutt claims to be in the management of the Gokarna Temple since 8th century AD. In 2003, the State of Karnataka notified the Gokarna Temple under Section 23 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 (Act) which resulted in taking the temple away from the Mutt and bringing it under the charge of the Deputy Commissioner appointed under the state government..After receiving several representations, the State of Karnataka however deleted the inclusion of the Gokarna Temple by way of Government Order dated August 12, 2008 which resulted in the Temple being administered by the Mutt. However, this deletion was challenged before the Karnataka High Court in a PIL..The Karnataka High Court quashed the notification by which the Temple was deleted from the ambit of the Act and further constituted an ‘Overseeing Committee’ to take charge over the management and assets of the Gokarna Temple. Justice BN Srikrishna (Retd. Judge of Supreme Court) was also nominated as an advisor of the Overseeing Committee..However, the High Court by a subsequent order deferred the taking charge of the temple until September 10, 2018..The Mutt moved the Supreme Court against the judgment of the High Court, and the former passed an order on September 7 continuing the interim protection granted by the High Court..Notwithstanding the interim protection given by the Supreme Court, the State of Karnataka, based on an opinion given by the Advocate General on September 18, issued an order directing the Overseeing Committee to take over administration of the temple from the Mutt. Accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner took charge over administration of the Temple on September 19, 2018..The Mutt immediately filed a contempt application and sought directions from the Supreme Court. The same came to be listed on the October, 3 when the Supreme Court clarified and directed that the status quo obtained as on September 7, 2018 was to be maintained by the parties until further orders and also recalled the Government Order of September 18, 2018, pursuant to which the Deputy Commissioner had taken charge of the temple..Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s direction of October 3, 2018 and its earlier order of September 7, 2018, the State of Karnataka continued to maintain that the Executive Officer had already been appointed on August 28, 2018 while the status quo had to be maintained as on September 7, 2018. Therefore, given that the Executive Officer had already been appointed, there was no occasion to hand over the administration of the Temple to the Mutt..The Mutt moved a second contempt application before the Supreme Court and argued that although the Executive Officer had been appointed prior to September 7, 2018, the Executive Officer had never taken over charge and possession of the Temple before September 7, 2018, on the date when the status quo order was passed..The letter dated October 6, 2018 of the Deputy Commissioner himself stated that charge had only been taken on September 19, 2018 which was after the interim protection granted by the Supreme Court on September 7, 2018 and therefore the Mutt argued that State of Karnataka was clearly in contempt of the orders passed by the Supreme Court..The Supreme Court, after hearing the parties, stated that its order of October 3, 2018 was unambiguously clear that status quo as on September 7, 2018 should be maintained by the parties. The Court stated that there is no question of the Executive Officer continuing as he had not taken charge of the Temple as on September 7, 2018. The Court directed that in case anything is kept with the Executive Officer, he shall return the same to the Mutt and hand over charge of the Temple to the Mutt on or before November 5, 2018..The Mutt and Adiguru Shankaracharya was represented by Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, assisted by Abhimanyu Bhandari, Nattasha Garg and Ejaz Maqbool AOR while Senior Advocate and Former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar represented the State of Karnataka..Read the order below.