The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday stayed the appointment of nine persons as trustees to the Mahisha Mardini temple at Neelavara in Udupi district. These trustees were appointed as per the recommendation of Udupi legislator, Raghupathi Bhat.

Hearing a petition by M Chittaranjan Hegde, a resident of Bramhavara and Udaya Shetty of Neelavara, Justice S N Satyanarayana stayed the appointment of N Chandrashekar Adiga, B Suprasad Shetty, Babu Devadiga, Suryanarayana Ganiga, Mahendra Kumar, Bhuvanendra devadiga, Satish Nayka, Premavathi T Ullur and Bhavani P Shetty as trustees to the temple.

The petitioners have claimed that the temple being a Hindu religious institution and managed by charitable endowment, the trustees should have been appointed only after inviting applications and conducting police verifications. They have alleged that all the persons appointed as trustees were the members of ruling party and norms have been thrown to winds while making appointments.