High court reserves verdict in case of Jyotishpeeth Badrikashram

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on the issue of dispute relating to the installation of Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth Badrikashram in Badrinath, Uttarakhand.
Hearing an appeal filed by Swami Vasudevanand challenging a lower court judgment, a division bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice K J Thaker passed the above order after hearing both the sides.
As per facts of the case, Shankaracharya Swaroopanand claimed that he is the valid Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth Badrikashram. On the other hand, Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati challenged his claim and proclaimed himself to be the Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth Badrikashram.
At one stage, the lower court while allowing the suit of Swami Swaroopanand, had held that Vasudevanand is disqualified for the post of Shankaracharya and had restrained him from proclaiming himself Shankaracharya of Badrikashram.
Hence, Vasudevanand filed the present appeal before the high court challenging the order of the lower court, requesting the court to stay the order of civil judge (senior division) of Allahabad distirct court, whereby he was restrained from proclaiming himself as Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth Badrikashram in Badrinath, Uttarakhand.
However, the counsels appearing for Swaroopanand had argued that he was validly installed as Shankaracharya of Badrikashram. Hence, they contended that Vasudevanand cannot be installed as Shankaracharya due to various reasons.