While hearing a PIL, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has sought a response from the state government. The petitioner has raised the question as to why only Brahmins are given a chance as a priest in religious places run by the state government. The petition has been filed by the Scheduled Caste-Public Officers Employees Union.
According to the report of Live Law, on Tuesday, the Madhya Pradesh High Court was hearing a public interest litigation related to the religious places to be run by the state government. The petition raised the question as to why only Brahmins are given opportunity for appointment as priests in these religious places.
Why not all castes of Hinduism. A division bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain issued a notice to the state government and ordered to answer the question in four weeks. The petition filed by the Scheduled Caste-Public Officers Employees Union (Ajjax) has challenged the constitutionality of the orders passed by the Department of Spirituality on 4 October 2018 and 4 February 2019 under the Madhya Pradesh Special Temple Bill 2019.
This argument kept in the High Court
On behalf of the petitioner, senior advocates Rameshwar Singh Thakur and Pushpendra Shah argued before the court that under Section 46 of the Temple Bill 2019, the government has notified more than 350 temples and other religious places in Schedule 1, which are under the control of the state.
The order allows a particular caste to be appointed as priests. For this, there is a provision of fixed salary from the treasury. This provision is a violation of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 21 of the Constitution as Hindus include OBC/SC/ST class. Therefore, it is unfair to prioritize only one caste for the post of priest.
Deputy Advocate General Abhijeet Awasthi, on behalf of the state government, said that the petitioner is an organization of employees, which has no legal right to file a petition. On this, the petitioners’ counsel said that only Brahmins have been worshiping in temples for centuries. There is no interference of the government.
Since 2019, the state government has made a law to appoint a pay -based priest, intervening in religious matters. The general public is not aware of this. After hearing the petition, the High Court has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, GAD, Ministry of Social Justice, Religious and Religion and Public Works Department and ordered to file replies within 4 weeks.
