Bhubaneswar: The Assembly Saturday passed the Odisha Hindu Religious Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to exclude Gobardhan Mutt from the purview of the Act.
After the amendment, the Gobardhan Mutt at Puri headed by His Holiness Jagatguru Sankaracharya is to be excluded from the definition of religious institution. As a consequence, the Gobardhan Mutt will no longer be governed by the provisions of the OHRE Act, 1951.
There are more than 18,000 Hindu public religious institutions in the state and all are governed by the provisions of the OHRE Act. However, the Gobardhan Mutt cannot be equated with other mutts of the state because of the unique position it occupies in the Hindu religion.
It is one of the four mutts believed to have been established by Adi Sankaracharya with the objective of propagating traditional Sanatana Dharma, the government said in the note submitted to the Assembly.
The other three mutts i.e. Sarada Mutt at Shringeri in Karnataka, Dwaraka Mutt at Dwaraka in Gujarat and Jyotir Mutt at Joshi Mutt in Uttarakhand have been allowed to function as independent religious institutions and are kept beyond the purview of their respective State Endowment Acts.
With this amendment, the governance and administration of these mutts have been kept out of the purview of the respective State Endowment Acts.
Commenting on the Bill, senior Congress legislator Narasingha Mishra said the OHRE Amendment Bill should have been sent to Governor for approval as it is a financial Bill. Otherwise, it cannot be discussed in the House, he said.
As per norms, the mutts should have submitted their accounts details and 5 per cent of profit to government, but, they are not doing so, Mishra said.
“As per my opinion, Sankaracharya is not working as per affidavit and government is not taking any steps,” he said.
However, Law Minister Pratap Jena said the OHRE Amendment Bill is not a financial Bill. Therefore, there is no need to seek approval from the Governor. The Gobardhan Mutt will function as per government rules. But, now the mutt will not need to give account details to the Endowment Commission, Jena said.
