As reported in TOI, ``Mutts' finances are off govt radar (Feb 17),'' the cabinet on Thursday approved amending the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Act, 1997, for this purpose.
Though the high court and a high-level committee headed by former chief justice and MP M Rama Jois had recommended including mutts/temples under government scrutiny, the government has kept them away without any explanation.
But the cabinet okayed the court and Rama Jois panel's suggestion that religious institutions of Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists come under public scrutiny.
This decision has evoked mixed reaction from religious minorities. National Commission for Minorities vice-chairman H T Sangliana said: ``This is a clear violation on the independence and identity of Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists, who don't want to be identified as offshoots of Hinduism. If the commission receives representations from these communities on the issue, we will take it up with the authorities.''
Karnataka Punjabi Welfare Association president Kuldeep Singh Rekhi welcomed the government's move to bring their religious institutions under the act's purview, but All-India Buddhists Youth Organization president Milind Dharmasena questioned it. ``Why have mutts been kept out of public scrutiny? This is clearly an anti-minority stand and open agenda of the BJP targeting minorities," he said.
S Jithendra Kumar Jain, president of Karnataka Jain Association, maintained that when Jains are not Hindus, how can the government bring them under the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act? ``We have constituted a legal cell to examine this issue,'' he said.
Higher education minister V S Acharya said the cabinet decided to amend the act to empower the government to appoint managing committees to temples. The amendment will be introduced in the upcoming budget session from February 24.
