The High Court has dismissed the board of trustees of Shirdi’s Saibaba Sansthan. The board appointed the members during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which has now been dissolved. The Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad Bench has ordered that a new board of trustees be appointed within the next eight weeks and that the temple’s management be entrusted to a three-member committee as before.
Petitions were filed alleging that the board of trustees was not appointed under the rules and that the criteria were not followed. The case was heard, and the decision was reserved. It was made public today.
Jayant Jadhav, Mahendra Shelke, Suresh Wable, and Anuradha Adik were Saibaba Sansthan Board of Trustees. Eknath Gondkar, Sachin Gujar, Rahul Kanal, Suhas Aher, and Avinash Dandavate were appointed as trustees. The appointment was delayed for a long time due to political inaction and the judicial process.
Uttam Shelke, a Shirdi-based social activist, initiated the petition. Shirdi’s Board of Trustees was dissolved by order of the Aurangabad bench of the High Court. The coalition government’s appointed board of trustees has been disbanded.
The objections were raised that the appointment was not carried out under the Sai Sansthan constitution. The Court has issued an order requiring the appointment of a new board of trustees within the next eight weeks. The state government must appoint a new board of trustees. The government of Maha Vikas Aghadi had appointed 16 members.