Point of Law : It is needless to observe that in the interest of the community people as also the devotees who visit the temple, the deity to be continued in the new temple rather than shifting to the old temple which is in a dilapidated condition thereby exposing the idol to all vagaries of nature. [Para 14]

ORDER :

The petitioners are before this Court seeking various prayers like issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents not to violate their fundamental rights; not to move the idol; not to dislocate or dispossess or shift any property of Kamsagara Beeralingeshwara Temple to any other place.

2. Heard Smt. Lakshmy Iyengar, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners, Smt. Rashmi Patel, learned High Court Government Pleader for respondents 1 to 4 and Sri K.S. Harish, learned counsel for respondents 5 to 21.

3. Brief facts that lead the petitioners to this Court in this petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows:

The petitioners claim to be the residents of Doddathekalavatti Village, Hosadurga Taluk, Chitradurga District and belong to Hori Kuruba community. They have knocked the doors of this Court in the subject petition alleging that in the year 2020 pooja materials and properties of the newly constructed Kamsagara Beeralingeshwara and Hinde Mallikarjunaswamy Temple including the idol have been attempted to be shifted to old Kamsagara Beeralingeshwara and Hinde Mallikarjunaswamy Temple. It is contended that Kamsagara Beeralingeshwara Temple (‘Temple’ for short) situated at Doddathekalavatti village was a private temple existing for over 100 years and the residents of the village and nearby villages majority of whom belonged Hori Kuruba community were visiting the temple and visit of the temple by the community people was frequent. The temple became popular in view of massive gathering of people worshiping the deity. It is contended that between 1970 and 1982 the people of the community drew up various kinds of poojas daily, monthly and annually in the temple. In the year 1983 due to two warring factions in the village led to institution of civil suit in O.S.No.40 of 1982 and the suit comes to be decreed that Kamsagara Beeralingeshwara and Hinde Mallikarjunaswamy Temple belongs to Hori Kuruba Community and is a private temple and the said community people were entitled to perform poojas to which three villages surrounding the temple were permitted. The Temple grew on its own accord and between 1994 and 2007 due to heavy rains, walls of the temple started collapsing and the temple itself went into a dilapidated condition. The water during every rainy season used to seep inside the temple and the seepage of the water into the temple became uncontrollable which was endangering the structure of the temple.

4. In the year 2007 the community people of the area called a meeting, collected funds from all the devotees and laid a foundation stone for construction of a new temple for the deity and the construction took about 8 years for the temple to come up. It was later in the year 2015 temple came to be inaugurated and idol was installed in the new temple by shifting from the old temple. In the year 2017, the entire community people appear to have assembled and formed a trust called Kamsagara Beeraligeshwara and Hinde Mallikarjunaswamy Temple Seva Samithi Trust (‘the Trust’ for short). It is the claim of the petitioners that since 1983 all the original documents demonstrate that the Trust that is formed by the petitioners is having regular meetings and it has also contributed to the construction of the new temple.

5. When things stood thus, in the year 2020 the local people on the alleged instruction of the former Member of Legislative Assembly/respondent No.5 herein, along with the help of the police, seek to take away materials and properties of the temple and shift it to the old temple, which was in a dilapidated condition. At that point in time, the petitioners knocked at the doors of this Court seeking certain directions to the respondents. The petition having been entertained, this Court granted an interim order on 11-12-2020. The interim order granted reads as follows :

“Smt. Lakshmy Iyengar, learned Senior Advocate appearing for petitioners submitted that in Doddathekalavatti village, Hos