Talekar and Associates

Compulsory Aadhar for Darshan and Aarti passes at Shirdi Temple

Talekar and Associates (represented by Adv. Ajinkya Sanjay Kale and Adv. Pradnya Talekar ) through a PIL filed by social activist Sanjay Kale had approached the Hon’ble High Court of Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad raising concerns over the prevalent security measures at the Sai Baba Temple, Shirdi. The Hon’ble High Court taking into consideration the increasing crime rates in Shirdi and the increased threats for lakhs and lakhs of devotees expressed their interests for finding an efficient solution for this. They also called upon security measures prevalent in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, so as to aid the framing of guidelines in Sai Baba Temple at Shirdi.
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In the meantime, the Chairman and the Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar submitted a confidential report to the High Court bringing to the notice that Darshan and Aarti passes are sold by ex-trustees/local representatives at premium rates to the devotees. Taking serious note of the said fact, in the order dated 10.11.2023 the Hon’ble High Court of Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad held that the Darshan/Aarti passes would be issued to devotees after mentioning and verification of Aadhar number of each devotee. The further security measures to be implemented are to be decided on the next hearing after study of the report received from Registrar General of Andhra Pradesh High Court in respect of TTD.