KARWAR: The Supreme Court on Thursday passed an order directing the State government to hand over the entire administration of the Mahabaleshwara temple at Gokarna to Ramachandrapur Mutt by November 5, the mutt said on Thursday.
In a release, the mutt said the apex court had on October 3 ordered the government to hand over the temple to it, but the district administration did not follow by the order. “The mutt filed a contempt petition with the court which on Thursday ordered the government to hand over the temple to it (the mutt) by Monday”, it said.
The court directed the handover entire administration of the temple including the management of its movable and immovable assets to the mutt, it said.
The historical temple was administered by trustees for several years. On August 12, 2008 the BJP government had decided to hand over the management of the temple to the mutt. Quashing the move of the government 10 years later, the Karnataka High Court had ordered a return of the temple to the Endowment Department. Challenging the HC order, the mutt had approached the apex court.