The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to reply to a petition seeking permission for the Jain community to take away parcels of boiled food from their temples during the Ayambil fast.
A Division Bench of Justices S.C. Gupte and Abhay Ahuja was hearing a petition filed by two Jain trusts — the Shree Trustee Atma Kamal Lab Labdhisurishwarji Jain Gyanmandir Trust, and the Sheth Motisha Religious and Charitable Trust.
They were seeking permission to “take away pious boiled cooked food from the premises of the religious trust” for nine days starting April 19.
The plea urged the court to allow 48 other trusts to open Jain temples with standard operating procedures (SOPs) under the ‘Break The Chain’ drive on April 13.
The advocate, appearing for the trusts, told the court that restaurants were allowed takeaways, but religious trusts were not. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan opposed the plea and said home delivery through online orders was allowed, but no one was allowed to go personally.
“Devotees cannot come... The idea behind the SOP is to avoid congregations,” the court said.
The matter has been posted to be heard on Friday.
