Uttarakhand High Court orders restoration of Badrinath-Kedarnath temple panel

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand High Court has revoked the state government’s order dissolving the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple committee and ordered its restoration.

Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia issued the order on Tuesday on a petition filed by members of the dissolved panel Divakar Chamoli and Dinkar Babulkar challenging dissolution of the committee.

The petitioners had challenged the dissolution of the committee on the grounds that it had been done before completion of its three year tenure without specifying any reasons for the move.

They had also attributed it to political motives as the committee had been constituted by the previous government in December 2016, Counsel for the petitioners VBS Negi said.

Soon after coming to power in the state in March this year, the new BJP government had dissolved the committee on April one.

However, after a petition was filed challenging the state government’s order in this regard, the high court had stayed constitution of a new committee which has the mandate to govern the two Himalayan shrines.