Temple staircase can't be rented: HC orders eviction

BABULNATH TEMPLE | The petitioner asserts that rent receipts had been issued in his guru's name and that electricity charges were also being paid

- Urvi Mahajani

The Bombay High Court has directed a disciple of an ascetic to vacate the portion he occupies on the staircase landing of the Babulnath Temple, famous Shiva temple in Mumbai, ruling that the space is not "premises capable of being let" under the Bombay Rent Act.

Justice Milind Sathaye, on November 6, dismissed a petition filed by Dharamgiri Maharaj - legal heir of the late Baba Brahmanandji - who had challenged concurrent orders of eviction passed by the Small Causes Court and the Appellate Court. The HC held that the area in question, a midlanding on the temple's main staircase, is an open passage used by devotees and cannot be treated as a tenanted property.