From Gomtipur to Shilaj: Row over ‘relocation’ of 400-year-old Jain idols reaches Gujarat HC

A DISPUTE over the relocation of 400-500-year-old idols from the Shri Rajpur Jain Shwetamber Murtipujak Chitamani Parshwanath Bhagwan Derasar in Gomtipur to Shilaj has landed before the Gujarat High Court (HC), with five devotees alleging that the trustees shifted the idols without informing the community members or securing the Charity Commissioner’s permission.

The petition alleges that the idols were removed overnight on February 10-11, 2025. It further alleges that the trustees, “in conspiracy with some other persons and for their own selfish reasons”, dug up the idols from the Jinalaya and took them away for installation at Shilaj.

The petition, filed through advocate Utkarsh Dave, challenges the Charity Commissioner’s August 21, 2026, order rejecting the devotees’ application seeking restoration of the idols. The petitioners have questioned the trustees’ authority to relocate the idols, which they claim are 400 to 500 years old, arguing that the decision was an administrative act requiring scrutiny and could not be treated as a matter of religious practice.

The HC will hear the matter on December 3. The petitioners, led by Vinod Sakalchand Shah, have contended that the trust’s registered objectives do not empower its trustees to shift the idols from the original temple to another location.

The trust, registered on January 2, 1953, has among its stated objectives the performance of seva-puja and religious rituals, management of temple property, and undertaking construction and repairs. The petition traces the dispute to 2006, when devotees had approached the Charity Commissioner, seeking to restrain the trustees from shifting the idols.

The application was disposed of on December 28, 2006, after the trustees stated that no resolution to relocate the idols had been passed. The petition states that in November-December 2022, “eight more trustees were added to the then existing six trustees”.

It further alleges that “all the newly added eight trustees were builders operating in Shilaj”. On February 1, 2025, the trustees passed a resolution to shift the idols to a parcel of land in Shilaj gifted to the trust by Aryan Build Projects LLP.

The petition states that the trustees cited the fact that the Gomtipur Derasar was not visited by many Jain devotees and that the idols needed to be shifted to “the more developed parts of Ahmedabad like Shilaj”. The trust accepted a donation of around 1,700 square yards of land for constructing a new Derasar and complex.

The petition alleges that the trustees, “in conspiracy with some other persons and for their own selfish reasons”, dug up the idols from the Jinalaya and took them away for installation at Shilaj. The petition states that the devotees subsequently filed an application under the Gujarat Public Trusts Act, 1950, on February 18, 2025, seeking directions for restoration of the idols.

The Charity Commissioner ordered status quo on the same day. A separate public interest litigation was dismissed by the High Court on May 6, 2025. The petitioners have argued that the Charity Commissioner, while rejecting their application, failed to distinguish between “religious practices” and “religious administration”.

They have also challenged the reliance placed on the earlier proceedings and a 1976 Bombay High Court judgment concerning judicial non-interference in religious practices. Apart from seeking quashing of the Charity Commissioner’s order and the February 1, 2025, resolution, the petitioners have sought restoration of the idols, along with jewellery and decorative articles, to the Gomtipur temple at the trustees’ cost.

They have also sought directions for repairing the alleged damage to the premises and an interim restraint on installing the idols at Shilaj or shifting any remaining idols. Aditi Raja is an Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, wi...

Read More