Subramaniam Swamy challenges Pandharpur Temples Act at Bombay HC

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramaniam Swamy, filed a lawsuit against the Pandharpur Temples Act (PTA) of 1973 with the Bombay High Court, claiming that the Maharashtra government took over the management of the Pandharpur temple arbitrarily.

In the PIL, it was requested that a committee be formed in collaboration with the priests and representatives of the worshippers (Warkaris) for proper management of the temple independent of governmental authority.

The plea claimed that the Act violates fundamental rights under Article 14 of the Constitution.

“Even if the management of a temple is taken over to remedy the evil, the management must be handed over to the person concerned immediately after the evil stands remedied. Continuation of take over after the evil is remedied would be tantamount to usurpation of proprietary rights or violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by constitution,” the plea stated.

By taking control over the Pandharpur Temple, the Maharasthra government has ousted the rights of Hindus to profess, practice, and propagate their religion, and to manage Hindu Religious Endowments and their own affairs in matters of religion, the plea further added.

Swamy said that the Act should be invalidated because it violates both the petitioners’ and the Hindu community as a whole’s fundamental rights. He asserted that the Act also gives the State the ability to permanently take over management of the temples’ religious and nonreligious activities and control them, vesting those responsibilities in government officials indefinitely.

The State government eliminated all hereditary rights, ministerial privileges, and priestly classes that were used to run the Vitthal and Rukmini temples in Pandharpur by an Act passed in 1973.