INDIA, November 20, 2015 (Niti Central): For the crusaders of the #freeHindutemples movement, the recent judgement by the Karnataka High Court could well be the first of a series of victories in their endeavor to end government control of Hindu temples. Through a major verdict, the state high court has struck down amendments brought to Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997 in 2011 and 2012, deeming them to be discriminatory and violating the Constitution.
A news report published in Vijayvani newspaper on 18th November 2015 states that now as a result of this judgement, state and district level religious councils, formed with the assistance of these amendments, will not be valid any further. These amendments aimed at tightening the hold of the government over temples and other Hindu entities in the state for takeover in the name of better management, leaving aside all mosques, gurudwaras and churches, accounting for a large share of land under them.
A division bench of the HC comprising Justice Anand Byrareddy and Justice S Sujatha, through an order, held the amendments illegal altogether, stating that they were against the Constitution. The petitioners argued that giving powers to the State government for appointing non-official members of their choice, some of them non-Hindus, was being largely misused at the religious institutions.
While 2015 may mark the first small victory in the Long War to get the government out of Hindu Temples, it is also the year we mark the passing away of the foremost crusader of this cause – Swami Dayanand and also the year when we witnessed one of the worst incidents of government mismanagement of a Hindu Shrine in Odisha.
Much more at “source” above.