SC stops coronation of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati as Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth

PTI, Oct 15, 2022, 4:12 PM IST

The Supreme Court has stopped the coronation of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati as the new Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna passed the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math in Puri has filed an affidavit that the appointment of Avimukteshwaranand as the new Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth has not been endorsed.

”This application is allowed in terms of prayer clause,” the bench said.

The top court was hearing an application alleging that Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati falsely claimed to have been appointed as a successor Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth by the deceased Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.

The matter is pending before the top court from 2020.

The plea said there is a deliberate attempt to ensure that the proceedings before this court become infructuous and a person who is not qualified and is ineligible, unauthorisedly assumes the office.

”Such attempts need to be prevented by an interim order of the court and hence this application may be admitted and allowed.

”It is most respectfully stated that the necessary documents are being filed to show that appointment of new Shankaracharya is patently false as it is in complete violation of accepted procedure of appointment,” the plea said.

According to Hindu scholars, a peeth can’t remain without a Shankaracharya.

Shankaracharya is a commonly used title of heads of monasteries called mutts in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism.

It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya had established four mutts at Badrikashram Jyotish Peeth in the north, Dwarka’s Shardha Peeth in the west, Govardhan Peetha in Puri in the east, and Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Chikkamagalur district, Karnataka.