BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court said the line of succession should be on the paternal side and not the maternal side, to claim the post of ‘archak’ on a hereditary basis. Justice NS Sanjay Gowda passed the order recently while dismissing the petitions filed by MS Ravi Dixit and MS Venkatesh Dixit, sons of MN Subramanya Dixit, who was the archak of Sri Mahabalesharaswamy Temple at KR Puram in Bengaluru East taluk.
The court said it is not in dispute that in order to claim hereditary archakship, it would be necessary that not only the father of the petitioners but also their grandfather and great-grandfather should have performed the role of archaks in the temple, and merely because their father had performed the role of archak in 1979, the petitioners cannot claim to be hereditary archaks.
The court further said that admittedly, only the father of the petitioners, MN Subramanya Dixit, had been performing pooja in the temple, and before him, it was Nanjunda Dixit, his father-in-law -- or maternal grandfather of the petitioners -- who was performing puja. Since the petitioners admit their maternal grandfather was performing puja, they cannot claim that archakship is hereditary, the court added.
The commissioner also recorded that the late Subramanya Dixit had been appointed in August 1979, and his father-in-law late Nanjunda Dixit had been working as archak for 45 years, as per the letter addressed to the Tahsildar. It was, therefore, held that since the archakship was traceable only towards the maternal side of the petitioners, they would not be entitled to a claim of hereditary archakship. Challenging this, the petitioners approached the high court.