Sri Manjunatha Swamy temple at Dharmasthala should be brought under the Muzrai Department to ensure that “crores of rupees” given as donations do not go to a single family only, said the Nagarika Seva Trust here on Saturday.
Addressing presspersons, Ranjan Rao Yerdoor, the founder-trustee of the organisation, said that there have been numerous Supreme Court verdicts that showed that “private temples” such as Dharmasthala could be brought under the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act 1997 as a public temple.
“The argument that it is a Jain private temple is invalid as lakhs of devotees throng there annually while historians have shown it have been started by Sthanik Brahmins. The income goes to a single family currently, instead of the public. By not taking action, the State government has allowed the temple to become a tool of feudal forces,” he said.
The trust has written recently to State Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra and Commissioner of Department of Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments regarding their demand.
