On 6 June 2011, the Supreme Court (SC) of India ordered status quo on a property dispute of Bangalore unit of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar, while posting the matter for further hearing in July, asked the Mumbai and Bangalore centers of ISKCON to work out an amicable solution to maintain the “high credibility of the august organisation”.

The bench told the senior counsel appearing for Mumbai and Bangalore temple of ISKCON that “We expect the learned counsel shall spend time and convince the two groups to sit across the table and find out an amicable solution. We do expect that the august institution would not continue with the litigation”.

In summary, the SC has delayed hearing this matter by approximately 4 weeks and during this time has ordered a status quo which is somewhat unclear. The
status quo can be interpreted to be either before the Supervisory Committee or after the Supervisory Committee.

After 4 weeks the SC will hear this matter on grounds whether to admit the case or not. The SC has not stayed the High Court order which was passed earlier on 23 May 2011.

If the Supreme Court admits the case, then the matter and hearings shall proceed further. If it does not admist the case, then the Bangalore unit presently headed by Madhu Pandit Das will have to respect the High Court order.

It may be recalled that, on May 23, the Karnataka High Court had ruled that the entire property of Bangalore’s International Society for Krishna Consciousness at Hare Krishna Hills belongs to Mumbai ISKCON. Aggrieved by the order, the Bangalore unit of ISKCON, had moved the apex court by way of a Special Leave Petition.

The apex court, while ordering status quo, also said there shall be no interference in the day-to-day administration of the Bangalore unit. Stating that ISKCON Bangalore had no legal existence, the High Court had upheld ISKCON Mumbai’s claim that the plaintiff society was defunct.

This update has been provided by the ISKCON legal team working on the issue.