1. The Hearing in the matter of PIL filed by our Trustee @ShreehariK seeking relief to the Archakas came up for hearing today before the Karnataka HC Bench consisting of Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka and Justice Krishna Bhat.

2. The Government Advocate submitted a Memo informing the Court that payment of Rs.12,000/- per temple has been provided by the Govt. The Chief Justice has instructed the Govt to state how much of that amount is towards the relief for the Archakas.

3. @ShreehariK submitted that what is paid by the Govt is only a quarter of Rs.48,000/- paid annually by the Govt to each temple towards meeting the annual expenses. J. Krishna Bhat questioned the Govt Advocate as to how they expect temples to meet all expenses with Rs.4000/- p.m

4. The Hon’ble Chief Justice has directed the Govt to consider in what manner help can be extended to Archakas who cannot be paid regular salary as there is no income to temples of 'C' Category temples.

5. @ShreehariK further brought to the notice of the Court that representations from the Archakas for release from Temple's Bank Account of a small proportion has not been accepted. The Hon’ble Chief Justice has instructed the Govt to file a response in this regard.

6. @ShreehariK submitted that although Govt has released ration kits for archakas same has been provided out to be funded out of funds of 'A' Cat temples around them. Resultantly, districts like Kalaburagi, Dharwad & Bidar where there are no 'A' Cat temples haven't received kits.

7. When Hon’ble Chief Justice enquired regarding this, the Govt Advocate stated that 14,000 'C' Category temple Archakas have been given Kits [out of over 35,000 temples]. The Court has instructed the Govt to answer if Govt can supply ration kits to all the Archakas.

8. The Hon’ble Chief Justice further instructed the Govt. to ensure that the Rs.12,000/- reaches the Archakas at the earliest and update the Court regarding its status on the next date of hearing, which is fixed on 03/June/2020