In what may be viewed as a setback to the State Government, the High Court of Uttarakhand in Nainital has found the State Government’s decision to form a new Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee to be against the regulations.
The High Court has also directed the reinstatement of the BKTC formed during the tenure of the previous State Government which was led by the Congress.
Members of the earlier committee, Diwakar Chamoli and Dinkar Babulkar had approached the high court bench of justice Sudhanshu Dhulia challenging the State Government’s decision of April 1, 2017. The petitioners had stated that the BKTC was officially formed with its tenure being that of three years. But, they alleged, the State Government had dissolved the committee due to political reasons without informing the committee or issuing a notice. The advocate for the petitioners cited various judicial decisions to substantiate their claim while demanding that the decision of State Government be declared unconstitutional.
The advocate representing the State Government contended that the State Government was not wrong in taking the decision to form a new committee.
After hearing the arguments, the high court single bench found the decision of the State Government to be incorrect, observing that the other side should have been given a chance to be heard. On this ground, the court quashed the State Government’s order dated April 1 regarding formation of a new temple committee.
