Datta Peetha will be under Muzrai department

BENGALURU:The cabinet on Saturday has decided that the Hazrath Dada Hayath Meer Khalendar Sree Guru Dattatreya Baba Buden Swamy’s Dargah at Chikkamagaluru will come under the purview of the Muzrai department and not the Wakf board.  All rituals will be performed at Datta Peeta as they were done prior to 1947.

Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, Law minister T B Jayachandra said the government has accepted the recommendations of an expert committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice H N Nagamohan Das. The committee was formed after a contempt petition was filed before the Supreme Court in January. “We requested the court to extend the deadline to submit a report. The rituals at the Dattapeeta will be held as it was carried out prior to 1947,” he said.    

The Supreme Court, while disposing the case in 2015, directed the state to solve the dispute. Based on the directives, the state formed a cabinet sub-committee headed by Jayachandra. However, the committee felt there was a need for an expert committee and hence, a three-member comittee was constituted. Noted historian S Shettar and writer and professor at Kannada University, Hampi, Rahmath Tarikere were the part of committee.BJP had then opposed the expert committee stating that the members of the committee were atheists.