Nainital: Several priests from Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines on Friday approached the high court against the recently introduced Char Dham Devsthanam Management Act which gives the control of the Char Dham temples and over 50 other shrines to the state government.

After hearing the initial arguments, the bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe clubbed the petition with the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Subramanian Swamy and gave the state government and chief executive officer (CEO) of Devsthanam Board four weeks’ time to respond.

As reported by TOI earlier, Swamy had filed the PIL in the court on request of several priests who had met him and urged him to intervene in the matter.

Swamy had alleged that the takeover of temples was “in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens including Hindu citizens and denominations under Articles 25, 26 and 29(1) of the Constitution.” Swamy had further said that the court should put a stay on the Act but the HC refused the stay and asked the government for its response.

