New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to determine whether a family temple can be dedicated to the general public without following any religious rituals, practices and customs [KK Suresh & Anr v. Jayakkuttan].
A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ahsanuddin Amanullah on Monday issued notice in the petition challenging an order of the Kerala High Court effectively granting rights and title of a temple to a party in an injunction suit.
“Issue notice returnable on 8th May, 2023. In the meanwhile, direction issued by the High Court to hand over two keys of sanctum sanctorum will remain stayed,” the order stated.
The petitioners are a board and a committee constituted under the board to manage the affairs of the Thiru Keralapuram Sreekrishna Swamy temple.
They claimed that the High Court erroneously created an altogether new case and framed fresh issues at the stage of a second appeal while directing for the keys of the temple to the handed over to the respondents.
“In the absence of a prayer or pleading on behalf of the Respondent qua title and possession over the schedule property, the Hon’ble High Court, at the stage of second appeal, has erroneously framed the said issue, which is beyond the pleadings and material on record, causing grave prejudice to the Petitioner Board herein,” the plea reads.
According to the petitioners, the title and possession of the temple was given to them by a munsiff court in 1989.
Therefore, it was argued that without considering undisputed facts, the High Court committed a grave error by adjudicating the title and possession which had already attained finality in 1989.
Further, the plea stated that the Court deprived the board of placing necessary facts of the case, imperative for the fair and proper adjudication of the issues involved in the case, as it did not implead its office bearers.
The petitioners also claimed that the issues raised by the respondents were without any foundation as they were never raised at any stage of the proceedings before the trial court.
Senior Advocate Naveen R Nath along with Advocates Deepak Prakash, Sriram Parakkat, Sreenath, Divyangana, Nachiketa Bajpayee, MS Vishnu Sankar and Athira G Nair appeared for the petitioners.
