Karnataka Governor sends bill on Hindu temples for President's nod

Bengaluru: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Friday reserved for Presidential assent a Bill seeking to use a higher portion of revenue from rich Hindu temples for a common pool of funds.

The Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill was passed by the legislature in March last year amid protests by the Opposition BJP.

According to the Bill, 10% of the gross income of temples whose gross annual income exceeds Rs 1 crore will be put in the common pool. Also, 5% of the gross income at institutions whose gross annual income exceeds Rs 10 lakh, but is less than Rs 1 crore, will be used for the pool.

The common pool, administered by the Rajya Dharmika Parishat, will be used for a number of purposes.

At present, 10% net income of temples with a gross annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh and 5% from temples earning Rs 5-10 lakh are used for the pool.

Earlier, Gehlot had sent back the Bill to the government seeking clarification. “I am not convinced by the clarifications given by the state government,” he stated in his communication to the department of parliamentary affairs & legislation.

The state government told Raj Bhavan that a division bench of the High Court held, in September 2006, that the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 was violative of Articles 14, 25 and 26 of the Constitution. This High Court order was challenged before the Supreme Court, which stayed the division bench’s order in April 2007. “...in view of the stay, the existing Act is in force,” Raj Bhavan was told.

In its legal opinion, the government told Gehlot: “The question whether the Act is violative of Article 14, 25 and 26 of the Constitution is pending before the Supreme Court...and because of it no other authority can examine the same question. For this reason, it may not be necessary for the Governor to examine this point.”

The Governor argued it was not “proper and viable” to approve the amendments “since the entire Act has already been struck down by the High Court, and unless the same has been brought to a logical end by the Supreme Court on the aspect of legal scrutiny under Article 14 and 26.”

Gehlot said he was reserving the Bill for President Draupadi Murmu’s assent “to avoid more constitutional complications since it involves Constitutional restrictions”.