Religious rights row: SC seeks clarification from Karnataka on Shahkhadri's dargah access

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the Karnataka government to inform as to whether Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin Shahkhadri was being allowed to enter Sri Guru Dattatreya Baba Budanswamy Dargah and offer his prayers, in terms of its earlier order.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the state government represented by senior advocate Devadatt Kamat and Additional Advocate General Nishanth Patil to file a report before August 26, the next date of hearing.

The court was considering a plea by Shahkhadri challenging the Karnataka High Court's order of March 6, 2023.

The counsel for the petitioner contended that despite specific order of March 15, 2024 to allow Shahkhadri inside the shrine, the district administration did not permit him to perform rituals over there.

Before re-listing the matter, the court said, "A report shall be filed by the State of Karnataka indicating as to whether the petitioner is being allowed to enter Sri Guru Dattatreya Baba Budanswamy Dargah and offer his prayers, in terms of the earlier order dated 15.03.2024, and if not, the reasons therefore."

On March 15, 2024, the court had directed that the petitioner should be permitted to enter the shrine and offer his prayers.

The petitioner led by advocate Ahmed A Majid was aggrieved with the High Court's order of March 6, 2023 which rejected its challenge to the validity of orders by the state government issued on November 18, 2022 and December 3, 2022 through the Commissioner for Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments, since it made no mention of the Sajjada Nasheen contrary to the earlier observations, judgments and orders passed by the various courts, including this court.

The ‘dargah’ at Chikkamagaluru is visited and venerated by thousands of Hindus and Muslims alike but there have been demands for its “liberation” on the ground that it was a temple of Lord Dattatreya.

Notably, the Congress government had earlier, in 2013, maintained that there was no existence of any mosque near the disputed cave shrine of Guru Dattatreya Baba Budangiri Swamy Dargah in Chikkamagaluru.