A 112-foot Lord Shiva statue was to be unveiled on 15 January in Chikkaballapura, but a PIL alleged corruption and environmental destruction.
Jaggi Vasudev AKA Sadhguru, head of Isha Foundation. (Twitter)
The Isha Foundation has moved the Karnataka High court to vacate the stay it ordered on the unveiling of a statue of Lord Shiva in the state.
The counsel for the foundation filed the application on Thursday, 12 January, stating the matter was very urgent, and the next hearing was thus advanced to Friday.
This came a day after the Karnataka High Court passed an interim order to maintain a status quo at the Avalagurki village in the Chikkaballapura district, where the 112-feet metal statue of Lord Shiva was to be unveiled at a grand event on 15 January.
A release by Isha Foundation on January 10 stated that the Adiyogi (Lord Shiva) statue was to be unveiled in an event attended by its founder Jaggi Vasudev, Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday ordered a status quo on the unveiling of the Adiyogi statue and the opening of an Isha Yoga Centre at the foothills of Nandi Hills.
Issuing notices to the state, the Isha Yoga Centre and 14 other respondents, the court passed the interim order of stay, Deccan Herald reported.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi on Wednesday passed the interim order of maintaining a status quo while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an agriculturist and permanent resident of Chikkaballapura, Kyathappa S, and others in the village who are the petitioners in this case.
The petitioners alleged that the district authorities and statutory authorities under both the Union and state governments had colluded with Isha Yoga Centre to bend and violate rules.
This, they claimed, destroyed the environment, ecosystem, watershed, and core command green area of Nandi Hills, Narasimha Devaru (Betta) Range (NDB) foothills in Chikkaballapura Hobli, and also the core area of a greenery hillock: Panchagiri Nandi Range.
They said this was done “for commercial gains”.
“And this is having a direct impact on the living, livelihood, cattle, sheep, and forest animals in the region around the foot of Nandi Hills,” the PIL claimed.
The petitioners also said the construction activities were affecting the natural water flow downstream of two small rivers that originate from Nandi Hills.
The North Pinakini and South Pinakini fill water into several tanks situated in many villages around the base of Nandi Hills, where agriculturists use it for irrigation purposes.
On Wednesday, LiveLaw reported that the court had permitted the petitioners to amend their petition within a week to allow them to raise a challenge to the notification issued by the government granting land to the Isha Yoga Centre and for raising additional grounds.
The court added that on carrying out the amendment to the petition, notices be issued to respondents, returnable in three weeks.
“The interim status quo order is to prevent further damage,” said M Shivaprakash, advocate for the petitioners in the PIL.
“The court will decide on the interim measures because the issue is important to protect the environment, watershed, water streams, and trees in the Nandi Hills range, which is an eco-sensitive area,” he added.
Shivaprakash told South First that his clients alleged that the authorities “illegally allowed” the Isha Yoga Centre to deface and destroy the forest ecosystem at the foot of Nandi Hills.
“They (the authorities) violated multiple statutory rules enacted by Union and state governments under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, Indian Forest Act of 1927, Forest (Conservation) Rules of 2003, Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Air & Water Prevention & Control of Pollution Act of 1974 and 1981, Karnataka Land Revenue Act, Karnataka Land Grant Rules, Karnataka Town & Country Planning Act of 1961, and Karnataka Panchayath Raj Act of 1993,” Shivaprakash told South First.
The PIL also mentioned that the bone of contention was the Avalagurki village, where Jaggi Vasudev — the head of the Isha Foundation, who is mentioned in the lawsuit as Respondent no 16 and claims a certain extent of land was purchased in the name of Isha Business Pvt Ltd and Isha Foundation — started to cause extensive damage to the environment, ecology, flora and fauna, water bodies, and water streams by defacing the entire area using heavy machinery and earthmovers.
The lush perennial age-old trees in the villages of Byrojanahalli, Pavandahalli, Avalagurki, and Gondihalli — as evidenced in satellite pictures from 2016 to 2022 — had been totally defaced, with only plain soil and plain land visible nnow, the PIL stated.
“It is in the official record of the local development authority. The area is classified as a Green Belt area in the Zonal Regulations,” it added.
When the Lord Shiva’s statue’s construction began. (Supplied)
According to the PIL, Jaggi Vasudev used extraneous methods to obtain documents — agreements or affidavits — with the help and assistance of the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner and tahsildar of the Taluk.
The have-nots are unable to raise their voice against this, it added.
And all of this happened during the Covid-19-induced lockdowns in 2020-21, when the public had no access to government officials, Shivakprakash told South First.
The PIL also stated that Jaggi Vasudev, with the support of the local district authorities, and specifically the deputy commissioner, police superintendent, and subordinate police officers, constructed a road which is exclusively in the jurisdiction of the Forest Department.
The construction resulted in local villagers being uprooted from their homes, it claimed.
Complaints were filed in this regard, but the authorities did not act on them, the PIL stated.
It also accused Jaggi Vasudev, along with police authorities, of having high-handedly dealt with the habitants and villagers who raised objections.
The police had even taken women — including one who was pregnant — and an infant child into custody, which is against rules and a human rights violation, claimed the PIL, adding that there was supporting photographic evidence.
Shivaprakash told South First: “The Isha Yoga Centre people had brought a dismantled metal idol of Lord Shiva in a truck on the intervening night of 15 and 16 December, and they have assembled it on the defaced land overnight.”
Recently, a mega event was also organised, for which Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was invited to instal a “Naga Idol and Hundi”.
Jaggi Vasudev was in the news for handling a rat snake at the event and showing it to the audience.
However, when the forest officials filed a complaint about it, the Isha Foundation claimed that he knew how to handle wild snakes and had rescued it and let it go into the forest.
When South First emailed Isha Foundation for its response to the PIL at the Karnataka High Court and the subsequent status-quo order, Isha Media Relations replied on Thursday: “The matter will be heard in the court tomorrow. We will issue an official statement after that.”
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