The Bombay High Court in a recent order has permitted the resumption of flower and garland offerings at the Shree Saibaba Sansthan in Shirdi, which were banned on account of the Covid-19 induced pandemic. The devotees will now be able to offer flowers at the temple in Shirdi after more than three years.
A bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and Shailesh Brahme allowed offering of flowers, breaking of coconuts etc. which were stopped in view of the Covid-19 restrictions that were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The court passed the said order after noting that the temple premises and the shrine(SanctumSanctorum) is now extremely clean, tidy and does not stink of de-composed flowers or coconut water.
"We have formed a prima-facie view that it would not be appropriate to reintroduce the offering of flowers inside the temple," the bench said after hearing two pleas by ad hoc committee of the Sansthan seeking approval of its resolution to resume flower/garland offerings and flower vendors requesting permission to sell flowers inside the temple premises.
"There is no dispute that the offering of the flowers in any temple creates a large quantity of accumulation of such offerings. These flowers get decomposed within a short time after being plucked. A mechanism has to be provided for ensuring that these offerings are processed in a way which would not disturb the ecological balance and would not create dirt or scattering in the shrine or outside," the high court observed.
The bench passed the order after the counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submited that such flowers and offerings are processed and are converted into essence sticks (Agarbatti), which is a product, which is also sold in Shirdi.
Earlier the court had directed the Sansthan to file an additional affidavit to bring on record any process that they have devised or which is enforced for processing such flowers, as this would guarantee not only clearing of the offerings at regular intervals, but more importantly, the shrine is kept clean and tidy.
An ad-hoc committee led by Principal District Judge, Collector and the Chief Executive Officer of the Sansthan has been overseeing the temple’s affairs since then since September 2022, following a court order.
The court however raised concerns about the Sansthan's plan for disposal of the flowers and garlands.
"We are essentially concerned with the aforementioned stand of the applicant trust/sansthan. If such used flowers and garlands are to be E-auctioned or disposed of by E-tender, one wonders as to how there could be a stipulation superadded precisely for their use in manufacture of agarbatties," the order read.