AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday asked the state government to explain why it has chosen to fund only Hindu religious sites in the state for development through the Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board.A bench of Chief Justice R S Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi asked the government lawyer to get instructions from the authorities concerned in response to a PIL questioning the secular credentials of the Gujarat government.The petitioner, Mujahid Nafees, took exception to the board’s decision to allocate funds for development of only Hindu pilgrimage site, 358 of them, and to exclude the holy site of other faiths – Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. His advocate K R Koshti argued that funding religious places of only one faith and ignoring those of other religions is illegal and violates of the Constitution of India.The PIL held that the government, being secular, is expected to not promote and maintain religious sites of one particular community from the taxes of all citizens. Public money must not be spent on promoting and maintaining the religious sites of one particular religion.The petitioner also maintained that the expenditure incurred by the state government only on Hindu religious places is against the rules and regulation of the board. The funds are aimed at creating lodging and boarding facilities for pilgrims at religious site and are not meant for maintenance of temples by footing their electricity bills etc.The board was constituted in 1995 and two years later, the temples of Ambaji, Dakor, Girnar , Palitana, Somnath and Dwarka were declared ‘pavitra yatradhams’. More than two decades later, this list has grown up exponentially to cover 358 temples, the exclusion of shrines of other religions raises questions about the government’s commitment to secular principles.The court has posted a further hearing on this subject for December 12.