Do you want to make Kedarnath, Puri, Rameswaram and other holy places in the country separate states? The Supreme Court asked. If you look at it that way, it is believed that Maharashtra, which has four holy temples, should be made into four states.
This was the response from the Apex Court to the petition filed by Praja Shanti Party chief KA Paul seeking to make Tirumala Tirupati, which is considered a holy place by Hindus, a Union Territory and accord autonomous status to TTD.
This petition was heard by a two-judge bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanathan on Friday. On this occasion, KA Paul himself presented arguments on his petition. When Vatican City was established for 746 Catholics, why can’t Tirupati City, which has 30 lakh devotees, be made a Union Territory? He said this is a violation of fundamental human rights.
In this regard, he pointed out Articles 14, 21, 25, and 26 of the Constitution. He said that Christians and Muslims have autonomy over their religious places (churches and mosques). He informed the court that the same right is being denied to Hindus. He stressed that this violates the principle of equality before the law.
He told the court that temples are being used politically and despite several orders given by the Supreme Court on October 3 on the Tirumala laddu issue there has been no progress. He asked for time-bound orders to the committee to ensure speedy investigation, accountability, and speedy justice.
He wanted a special committee to be formed to resolve the problems of lakhs of devotees who visit Tirupati daily and to monitor the investigation. He expressed concern about political manipulation and interference that create differences between religious communities.
Responding to these arguments, the bench said that they cannot directly order the Center to form a separate state and amendments will be made in Parliament only on special states and union territories. Expressing dissatisfaction over tone of the arguments, the Bench asked, will all the holy places, gurdwaras and other temples in the country be made union territories in the future? It made it clear that it is dismissing this petition.
However, Pal brought to the attention of the Bench that the SIT was approved a month ago to investigate the Tirupati laddu controversy without setting any time limit. Since the trial has not even started the court should set a time limit of at least 90 days, or 9 months. The Supreme Court on October 4 had constituted an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate allegations that polluted ghee was being used to make laddu prasadam.