New Delhi, February 15 The Supreme Court has ordered a septuagenarian monk to vacate a portion of the iconic Babulanath Temple in Mumbai within four years, and upheld the Bombay High Court's order directing his eviction.
It is rare for the apex court to grant such a long duration for eviction, but the advanced age of 75 years of the monk, who has renounced the world and is leading a religious and spiritual life, weighed upon the court.
The dispute concerns a small area on a landing of the staircase leading to the centuries-old Babulnath Temple in Mumbai's Gamdevi.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh, which heard the plea of Jagannath Giri, represented by senior advocate Shoeb Alam, said that nothing had been brought before the court that would warrant interference with the well-reasoned and concurrent finding of facts and law by the Small Causes Court and the appellate bench, nor with the order passed by the high court under Article 227 of the Constitution.
The court dismissed the appeal filed by Giri against the high court's order of November 6 last year.
The court announced the order despite the continuous possession of the temple's portion since about 1968, with rent paid, but also considered the submission that the petitioner is in the autumn of his life and leading a religious and spiritual life.
"...we are inclined to grant a period of four years to the petitioner before he hands over vacant possession of the said premise of the temple to the respondent/plaintiff Temple Trust, so as to enable the petitioner to secure alternative accommodation," the bench said.
The top court said that as long as the monk stays in the temple premises, he would do so peacefully and shall not cause any obstruction in the development of the temple premises.
It also directed that the temple authorities must ensure that no third party is allowed to occupy the place being used by the petitioner, nor cause any disturbance to him.
According to the order uploaded by the apex court recently, Giri is the legal heir and representative of the original defendant, Baba Brahmanandji Maharaj, who was allowed to use a portion of the Babulnath Temple on the landing of the main staircase of the temple, and has been stated to be occupying it since about 1968.
The premise was let out to Baba Ramgiri Maharaj in 1927.
The top court said that Baba Ramgiri Maharaj continued residing in the suit premises until his demise, whereupon the defendant, Baba Brahmanandji Maharaj, being his disciple, took over possession and continued as a tenant.
The problem started when the temple trustees filed a suit before the Small Causes Court in Mumbai seeking his eviction.
On October 18, 1996, the court decreed the suit and directed Brahmanandji Maharaj to hand over the possession of the suit premises to the plaintiff.
An aggrieved defendant went before the appellate bench of the Small Causes Court, which, on June 22, 2001, dismissed his appeal.
The defendant then moved the Bombay High Court for relief.
During the pendency of the writ petition before the high court, Baba Brahmanandji Maharaj, died, and Jagannath Giri was impleaded as his legal representative, who continues to possess the premises under contention.
The high court, however, declined to interfere with the concurrent finding of facts and law arrived at by the Small Causes Court and the appellate bench and dismissed the petition on November 6, 2025.
It observed that its supervisory jurisdiction is of limited scope and was essentially for ensuring that the orders passed by the courts below remain within the confines of law and that it cannot reappreciate evidence.