By Express News Service
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Two petitions opposing permission to hold Ganesh Chaturthi festival at two Idgah grounds in Karnataka drew two different rulings on Tuesday. While the Supreme Court disallowed the use of the Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet for the Ganesh festival, the Karnataka High Court in a late night sitting refused to stay the municipality permission to the Vinakaya event in Hubballi.
A Supreme Court bench of justices Indira Banerjee, A S Oka and M M Sundresh asked both the parties Karnataka State Board of Auqaf, Central Muslim Association of Karnataka and the state of Karnataka to maintain status quo. “Maintain status quo for some days. You can hold your pooja somewhere else,” Justice Indira Banerjee said.
“200 years, whatever was not held, so maintain the status quo. 200 years it has not been done. No Ganesh festival on this land,” Justice Oka added. Earlier in the day, since a two-judge bench of justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia was divided on the matter, it referred the case to Chief Justice of India U U Lalit. The CJI constituted the three-judge bench after senior advocate Dushyant Dave made an urgent mention, saying if the matter is not heard on Tueday itself, status quo of 200 years there will be disturbed.
The Hubballi case was heard by HC judge Ashok S Kinagi at 10 pm. In his interim order, he said the Chamarajpet and Hubbali cases were dissimilar, as the former was a title suit, while the latter plot belonged to the Dharwad municipality. Besides, the Hubballi land was not covered under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, he added.
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Two petitions opposing permission to hold Ganesh Chaturthi festival at two Idgah grounds in Karnataka drew two different rulings on Tuesday. While the Supreme Court disallowed the use of the Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet for the Ganesh festival, the Karnataka High Court in a late night sitting refused to stay the municipality permission to the Vinakaya event in Hubballi.
A Supreme Court bench of justices Indira Banerjee, A S Oka and M M Sundresh asked both the parties Karnataka State Board of Auqaf, Central Muslim Association of Karnataka and the state of Karnataka to maintain status quo. “Maintain status quo for some days. You can hold your pooja somewhere else,” Justice Indira Banerjee said.
“200 years, whatever was not held, so maintain the status quo. 200 years it has not been done. No Ganesh festival on this land,” Justice Oka added. Earlier in the day, since a two-judge bench of justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia was divided on the matter, it referred the case to Chief Justice of India U U Lalit. The CJI constituted the three-judge bench after senior advocate Dushyant Dave made an urgent mention, saying if the matter is not heard on Tueday itself, status quo of 200 years there will be disturbed.
The Hubballi case was heard by HC judge Ashok S Kinagi at 10 pm. In his interim order, he said the Chamarajpet and Hubbali cases were dissimilar, as the former was a title suit, while the latter plot belonged to the Dharwad municipality. Besides, the Hubballi land was not covered under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, he added.
