No 'Jagran' Shall Be Held Or Any Other Similar Events Would Be Allowed In Kalkaji Mandir Without Permission: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court directed that no ‘Jagran’ shall be held or any other similar events would be allowed in the Kalkaji Mandir without the permission from the court.

The matters pertained to the Kalkaji Mandir in which the platform for a religious event collapsed in January month of this year.

A Single Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh ordered, “… it is clear that the Mahant’s position is that he is not authorized to take administrative decisions or to give any permission to organizers for holding any program in the premises. The premises of the Kalkaji Mandir is for the use by the public and no individual or entity can exercise exclusive control on any part of the said premises. The ld. Administrator having been appointed and given full management and control, any event that has to be organized would require permission. Without the same, no program shall be organized within the Mandir precincts. No jagran shall be held or any other similar events would be permitted in the Kalkaji Mandir.”

The Bench added that if any organization wishes to hold any jagran or similar religious program, such organization may approach the Court for seeking permission by way of an application.

Factual Background -

On February 12, the court had sought a report from the Administrator and other stakeholders in respect of the recent unfortunate Jagran incident on the intervening night of January 27 and 28. The organizers of the event sought permission to organize the jagran and use loud speakers. The Station House Officer (SHO) submitted that no permission was granted.

It was the case that the Administrator was to give directions and permission for holding the event but he did not give the same. The Administrator also interacted with all the victims on February 7 who suffered injuries as also the relative of one lady who unfortunately passed away due to the collapse of the platform. The compensation was also directed to be paid by the organizers of the event to the said victims which ranges from Rs. 15,00,000/- for the case of death to Rs. 5,000/- for simple injury.

The High Court in the above context observed, “As per the ld. Administrator, the present situation for crowd management is not sufficient and thus there is a need to have a three layer security personnel deployment in the Mandir premises as the present staff is grossly insufficient. In view of the same, the ld. Administrator has recommended a three layer security for the Mandir premises. The ld. Administrator has also suggested the constitution of a strong volunteer force under the Shri Kalkaji Mandir Prabandhak Sudhar Committee (‘SKMPSC’) which claims to have more than 800 volunteers.”

The Court said that let the Administrator take steps for revival of the SKMPSC which can also recruit volunteers for crowd management and place a report in this regard by the next date of hearing. It ordered that all steps shall be taken to ensure that there is proper crowd management at the Mandir premises.

“Some photographs have also been annexed along with the affidavit. However, the stand of the pujaris and the baridaars is that there are more than 100 vendors who are operating outside the Kalkaji Mandir premises and on weekends, there is a large commotion outside the Mandir due to the swelling crowd. … The baridaars shall place on record photographs of the said area”, it further directed.

Accordingly, the High Court issued the necessary directions.

Cause Title- Neeta Bhardwaj & Ors. v. Kamlesh Sharma (Neutral Citation: 2024:DHC:1391)

Appearance:

Advocates Arun Birbal, Sanjay Singh, R. K. Bhardwaj, Dheeraj Bhardwaj, Sonia Singhani, Vidhi Gupta, Neeraj Bhardwaj, Rahul Bhardwaj, Lokesh Bhardwaj, Akarshan Bhardwaj, Samapika Biswal, Nidhisha Garg, Aman Kumar Yadav, Anuj Chaturvedi, Shreya Manjari, Rishabh Kapur, Kush Bhardwaj, P. N. Mishra, Anjani Kumar Mishra, Tanay Hari Lal, Sarvesh Bhardwaj, Lakshay Bhardwaj, Kamal Kumar, Aashish Bhardwaj, Satish Pandey, Ramesh Kumar Mishra, Kaoliangpou Kamei, Paul Kumar Kalai, Siddharth Panda, Venkateshan, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Rishabh Kapur. 

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