The High Court of Karnataka on Monday ordered notices to the state government and the management committee of Kabbalamma Temple, Ramanagaram district, on a petition against the "illegal" appointment of Bengaluru Rural parliamentarian, D K Suresh, as chairman of the committee.
Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan passed the orders on a petition filed by Ravikumar Kanchanhalli, a resident of Ramanagaram and a devotee of the temple who has urged the court to quash the constitution of the management committee and direct the government to form a fresh committee in accordance with the law.
According to the petitioner, the government had issued a notification on July 28, 2017, inviting applications from members of the public under section 25 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Act, 2011.
A mandatory condition in the impugned order itself is that the member of the said committee cannot be a member of any political party. Despite this, Suresh, who is a Congress MP, was made a member and chairman of the committee, the petitioner said.
The petition argues that self-contradiction in the impugned order is sufficient to establish that it is not legally sustainable. Furthermore, Suresh is explicitly barred under the 2011 act.
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