KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court today directed the government to set up a panel to decide whether the Pashupatinath Temple should be run by the state since the country has turned secular.

A division bench of Justices Top Bahadur Magar and Krishna Prasad Upadhyay issued the verdict. The bench told the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to act as per the recommendation of the panel.

The bench has also given three months for such a committee to prepare the report. “The panel will deal with the priest appointment and management of offerings made by the devotees in the temple,” the bench observed, responding to

a Public Interest Litigation filed by advocates Binod Phuyal and Lokdhoj Thapa, seeking an apex court order to appoint priests at the Hindu shrine and to manage offerings made to it.

The petitioners also sought to set up an independent and autonomous commission to decide all matters related to the Hindu temple.

The apex court, however, quashed another writ petition challenging the appointment of Bishnu Prasad Dhakal and Shalikram Dhakal as priests by the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. “Since their appointment was quashed by the government later, followed by other appointments, there is no need to scrap the move,” the bench stated.

The bench referred another writ, which challenged the provisions of the Pashupati Area Development Trust Regulation.