Supreme Court rejects PIL requesting control over religious facilities

The Supreme Court turned down a PIL on Wednesday, calling it a “publicity-oriented litigation” that asked for the right to create, administer, and maintain religious sites for Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs in the same way that Muslims, Parsis, and Christians do.

The issue was within the purview of the legislature, according to a bench presided over by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and the court would prefer not to become involved.

“Mr. Upadhyay, submit a legitimate petition. Which prayers are these? Are these reliefs attainable? Withdraw this petition and submit one that has requests that will be approved. Bring out a petition with some substance. All of this action is being done for attention. The court ruled that this petition could not be maintained.

The nation’s highest court was considering a petition filed by attorney Ashwini Upadhyay, which also called for a uniform code for endowments for charitable and religious purposes and complained that government officials control Hindu temples all over the nation, in contrast to members of other religions who are free to run their own institutions.

The argument put out by attorney Ashwani Kumar Dubey claimed that every community has a fundamental right to control institutions, as granted by Article 26.

But this right has been denied to Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs, according to the petition, which also noted that only around four lakh of the country’s nine lakh Hindu temples are not under government administration.

In addition to Upadhyay’s argument, the supreme court turned down a petition from Hindu seer Swami Jeetendranand Saraswatee that asked for the same kind of instructions.