The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that allowing VIPs to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain rests solely with the discretion of the temple administration and district authorities, and does not call for judicial interference.
A division bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi made the observation while dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Indore resident Darpan Awasthi. The petitioner had alleged discrimination, contending that while certain so-called VIPs were permitted to perform rituals and offer water to the deity inside the garbhagriha, ordinary devotees were denied such access.
In its August 28 order, the bench noted that the managing committee’s minutes did not reflect any specific prohibition against entering the sanctum. However, it clarified that entry to the garbhagriha was permitted only with the sanction of the Collector and the Administrator of the Mahakaleshwar Mandir Management Committee.
“The VIPs can enter in the garbhagriha with the permission of Collector and Administrator… who is VIP in the opinion of Collector and Administrator cannot be decided in a writ petition, which is purely a discretion of the competent authority,” the court observed.
The bench further said that no permanent list or protocol exists for determining VIPs. Instead, the status is decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on the day and the individual’s position. “On a particular day, looking at the status of the person, the Collector shall be the competent authority to treat him VIP for the purpose of offering water to the deity,” the order stated.
The judges also highlighted that the term “VIP” is not defined under any statutory law or rules. Thus, anyone permitted by the competent authority to enter the sanctum at a given time may be considered a VIP for that occasion. This, the court noted, is a practice followed in many religious institutions across the country.
The bench concluded that the petitioner appeared to be “personally aggrieved,” and therefore, the writ petition was not maintainable.
Ujjain, located about 50 km from Indore, is a prominent centre of religious tourism and home to the Mahakaleshwar temple, one of the twelve jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. The temple attracts lakhs of devotees every year, with the issue of VIP access to the sanctum often sparking debate among worshippers.
