While setting aside an order whereby the District Magistrate (DM) was directed to convene a meeting on preservation and maintenance of the relics and articles of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Ashrama, the Calcutta High Court has held that if the case made out in the writ petition does not fall within the periphery of infringement of any constitutional or legal right or of any right of the petitioner, the writ petition will not be maintainable.

The High Court was considering a mandamus appeal arising from the impugned order to the stay application whereby the District Magistrate, Darjeeling (DM) was directed to convene a meeting with the representatives of the relevant Math, the Ramakrishna Mission Head Quarter, Belur and the writ petitioner for the purpose of considering the appropriate measures for the preservation and maintenance of the relics and articles as well as the Math building within a period of one month.

The Bench of Justice Aniruddha Roy and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) held, "Mere participation by the appellant in the meeting held by the D.M. pursuant to the direction of the writ Court under an interlocutory order, would not operate as estoppel, waiver or acquiescence on its part to question the maintainability of this writ petition, at the appellate stage, if it is ex facie not maintainable on the face of it. Whether a writ petition is maintainable or not, it should, prima facie, has to be established from the statements and the case made out in the writ petition. If the case made out in the writ petition does not fall within the periphery of infringement of any constitutional or legal right or of any right of the petitioner, writ petition is not be maintainable.”

Advocate Kallol Basu represented the Petitioner while Additional Government Pleader Kunaljit Bhattacharjee represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The writ petition was filed by the petitioner who described himself as a follower of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission as well as other religious societies under the name and style of “Thakur Sri Sri Ramakrishna”. It was his case that while visiting Darjeeling, he noticed that the Ashrama situated at Darjeeling, being the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math called Ramakrishna Vedanta Ashrama (Darjeeling) (Ashram)wherein sacred relics and other important articles used by Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Thakur Sri Ramakrishna, were lying in a most unorganised and unsafe manner. It was further claimed that the articles and relics lying at the Ashram were kept in an absolutely negligent and unprofessional manner, which may be destroyed at any point in time if proper care is not taken.

It was further claimed that due to lack of maintenance of the building for many years, the condition of the Ashram building had become worse. The petitioner also found that no proper maintenance of the said building was at all being done by the appellant for many years and the building could collapse at any point of time. The petitioner had also gathered information that no daily worship had been done in the Ashram.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench noted that no case was made out as to how a fundamental right or a legal right of the petitioner was infringed.

Considering that the Ashram is run and administered under a particular Trust, the Bench stated, "Neither any case is made out that any private right of the petitioner has been infringed. When a Trust is established under which the Ashram functions, reading the allegations in the writ petition, this Court is also of the further view that, the allegations are, at the highest, can be levelled against the administration of the trust for which the writ petitioner would have appropriate remedies in the civil domain and not in the constitutional domain. The case made out in the writ petition even if for the sake of argument is accepted, the same will be purely civil in nature for which no writ petition shall lie."

Dismissing the petition, the Bench clarified, “However, it is also made clear that, the appellant/Ashram, in an appropriate situation, shall be at liberty to take assistance of the State Administration in the event of any requirement and necessity, when the State administration shall render assistance in accordance with law.”

Cause Title: Swami Atmabodhananda @ Subrata Maharaj General Secretary, Ramkrishna Vedanta Math v. State of West Bengal (Neutral Citation: 2026:CHC-JP:405-DB)

Appearance

Appellant: Advocates Kallol Basu, Anirban Mitra, Hillol Saha Podder, Amit Halder

Respondent: Additional Government Pleader Kunaljit Bhattacharjee, Advocates Shubhankar Dutta, Somdutta Patra, Biswabrata Basu Mallick, Pretom Das, Abhishek Sen

Click here to read/download Order


Calcutta High CourtJustice Aniruddha RoyJustice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das)

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.