Page 25 - PR Communication Age January 2016
P. 25
Legal
Hand-written passport expressing doubt on the effectiveness ership of one-third of the 2.7 acres of
not valid after 24 Novem- of any order, if passed, to bar lawyers disputed site.
ber, 2015 from going on strike. "Self-discipline is
required on the part of lawyers. We But the Rajasthan high court has up-
Handwritten passports of Indian citizens have serious doubts on how effective turned the norms governing upkeep
were declared invalid as per a govern- our order would be," it said. and administration of temples by rul-
ment directive. The government has ing that deities being minors could not
asked those having handwritten pass- "My personal view is that the lawyers cultivate land and hence temple land
ports to get machine-readable ones have no right to strike," Justice Joseph should vest in the state government.
having bar codes by 24 November. said. Agreeing with his brother Justice The HC order has mainly hit the pujaris
Mishra said strike is not a weapon to hard as they have been for generations
The government had decided to dis- be wielded by lawyers. "It is like a maintaining the temples and their
continue handwritten passports in ac- 'Bramhashtra' which should not be families through income from cultiva-
cordance with the recommendations used by lawyers. It can be used only in tion of temple land.
of the International Civil Aviation Or- rarest of rare cases".
ganization (ICAO) to incorporate bio- The consequence of the HC decision is
metric data in the machine readable Can temple deity own that all lands of deities would now vest
travel documents. land? SC to decide with the Rajasthan government, which
has even issued advertisement for auc-
SC: Lawyers don't have The Supreme Court has taken up the tion of Deity lands. The petitioner said
right to strike challenging task of deciding whether a this ruling affected lakhs of small
temple deity, legally recognized as a temples/ deities, primarily in the rural
Expressing serious concern over the 'minor', is entitled to own land at- areas and small villages.
justice delivery system being brought tached to the temple and whether the
to standstill by lawyers going on strike, property could be cultivated on his Crying foul against the judgment and
the Supreme Court said advocates behalf by 'sevaits' (pujari or guardian). terming it an infringement on their
don't have the right to strike while right to religion, Mahant Damodar Das
working. For ages, Hindu temple land vests in its and the deity of Shri Thakurji of
principal deity which has been recog- Sardarshan temple moved the Su-
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and nized as a legal entity by the courts. preme Court through advocate Manish
Arun Mishra asked the advocates' as- Even in Ayodhya-Ramjanmabhoomi dis- Singhvi alleging that the HC order vio-
sociations and Bar Council of India to pute case, the Allahabad high court lated the right to freedom of religion
"help it out" in dealing with the issue, had recognized the right of Ram Lalla guaranteed under the Constitution.
despite granting the minor deity own-
"It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.”
PR COMMUNICATION AGE January 2016 25
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