Panaji: Bombay high court on Wednesday set aside the February 2025 elections to the managing committee of Shree Dev Bodgeshwar temple, Mapusa, and directed the administrator of the devalaya and the Bardez mamlatdar to hold fresh elections within three months.The high court directed that the fresh elections be conducted on the basis of the list of mahajans after excluding 254 members from the electoral rolls.“Till the newly elected managing committee takes charge, the administrator shall manage affairs of Shree Dev Bodgeshwar Sansthan,” Justice S G Chapalgaonkar said.The court held that the inclusion of the 254 members was “illegal” and “in blatant violation of procedure of enrolment under Chapter III (Section 1) of regulations and election process was carried out on basis of faulty electoral roll”.Referring to Article 27, the court said no person can be considered a member (mazanes) without prior enrolment in the relevant catalogue.“In present case, the list of voters was not prepared in consonance with law and the addition of 254 members was absolutely illegal. Unfortunately, the administrator, in spite of knowledge about objections to the validity of the list of capable members, showed Nelson’s eye to objections and permitted election based on invalid voters list. As per Article 70, it was incumbent on the administrator to watch over execution of regulation and bye-laws and strict discharge of duties by his subordinate. However, he failed to discharge his duties,” the HC held.
