Karnataka high court on Friday allowed the rape-accused Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru to sign cheques for financial transactions of the mutt. A bench headed by justice Nagaprasanna passed the order after a petition was submitted claiming that the mutt was unable to pay the salaries of its employees since the seer was arrested in a sexual abuse case.
The bench has allowed the accused seer to sign the cheques on October 3, 6 and 10. The individual who takes signatures should obtain permission from the district commissioner. During the process, the investigating officer and jail superintendent should be present and later submit the photocopies of the cheques to the court, the bench said.
The court also said that the order will be applicable only for October and directed the counsel to make arrangements for the transfer of the power of attorney someone else and submit a petition to the local court in this regard.
On September 21, the seer’s lawyer, Sandeep Patil, had approached Chitradurga sessions court. He had argued that the seer’s signature was necessary to release the salaries of around 3,500 employees of SJM Vidyapeeth, the chain of educational institutions run by the mutt. As per the petition, Sharanaru is the only trustee of the mutt. He has to sign 200 cheques to release the salary of the employees.
The sessions court, however, denied the permission. Opposing the appeal, public prosecutor M Nagaveni argued that if the court grants permission to sign the documents in prison, there may be a possibility of misappropriation of property and assets belonging to the mutt. After the sessions court rejected the appeal, the seer moved to the high court.
HT had earlier reported that the members of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community and followers of the Murugha Matha on Thursday had decided to approach Karnataka high court seeking the appointment of a new pontiff at Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt in Chitradurga.
The decision to approach the court was taken at a meeting on Thursday amid concerns that salaries of over 3,500 staff members across educational institutions run by the mutt remained undistributed since August.
The meeting at S Nijalingappa memorial premises was chaired by former minister H Ekanthaiah and attended by over 1,500 members of the community. “The community leaders raised concerns as over 3,500 staff members across more than 150 educational institutions run by the mutt have not received any salary since August,” Ekanthaiah told HT.
The mutt administrator Vastradmat told HT that the mutt filed appeal in state HC to give powers to sign cheques to seer.
Sharanaru was arrested on September 1 after two girls studying in a school and residing in a hostel run by the mutt accused him of sexual assault. The accused has been booked under Indian Penal Code, POCSO Act and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and is currently in judicial custody. Four of his associates have also been booked under similar charges.
According to people aware of the developments, the seer has refused to step down from the post of the pontiff.
