Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district to depute the deputy director of land records and a technical team to submit a report on whether a temple there has encroached upon the road or whether the road was built around the temple.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit were hearing a petition alleging that there was illegal encroachment of the road by Sri Sallapuradamma Temple, Hegganahalli Main Road, Sunkadakatte village, Bengaluru.

The road is said to have been blocked by the temple. After assessing the photograph, the high court said the temple seemed to be in the middle of the road.

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The high court had on March 8, 2021, directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to depute an officer to visit the site and file a report.

In its recent order on Thursday, the high court noted that the affidavit by the BBMP was "ambiguous and an attempt was made to create some confusion."

"We are unable to comprehend the statement which in a way indicates the situation that the road is laid around the temple. This report fails to show as to whether there is illegal encroachment and whether the temple has been standing there for ages," it said.

So to obtain a "clear report from an independent authority," the high court directed a new survey and adjourned the hearing for February 9.

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Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has ordered that all files will now go through Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde before being presented to CM Devendra Fadnavis for approval.

The moves seeks to revive an arrangement which existed in 2023 of files being vetted by the then two deputy CMs --Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis -- before being forwarded to then CM Shinde.

State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order to this effect on March 18. "Since July 26, 2023, files were moved from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, to (then) Deputy CM Fadnavis, who held the home, law and judiciary departments before being sent to (then) CM Shinde for approval," as per the order.

This arrangement was made after Pawar, who was then leader of opposition in the state assembly, joined the Shinde-led government along with a several NCP MLAs on July 2, 2023.

Now, with Fadnavis taking charge as chief minister, following the victory of the Mahayuti (comprising BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP) in the state polls last year, the arrangement has been changed.

All files will be routed from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who continues to hold the finance department, to Eknath Shinde, who is also the deputy CM and holds housing and urban development portfolios.

The files will be sent to Fadnavis after Shinde's approval, as per the latest order.

Since the Mahayuti 2.0 took over, there has been speculation of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis. Both the leaders have strongly denied the speculation.

There have been disagreements over the guardian minister posts of some districts. Fadnavis had to revoke his decision on the appointment of guardian ministers of Nashik and Raigad districts after objections from Shinde.