K'taka HC adjourns Bhagavad Gita case to two weeks

The Karnataka high court on Thursday adjourned by two weeks hearing on the petition challenging the government's controversial circular on teaching of the Bhagavad Gita in primary and higher secondary schools in the state.

When the petition filed by the Karnataka State Minorities Educational Institutions Managements Federation came up for hearing before Justice Abdul Nazeer, he granted the time sought by the government to file its objections.

On July 14, the court ordered issue of notices to the state and the union governments on the petition, which prayed that the court stay the operation of the circular. Counsel for the petitioner G R Mohan had submitted that the circular would "go against the Constitution of India and also affect the religious sentiments of the minority and may create communal tension in schools".

The government has maintained that the Bhagvad Gita programme was neither sponsored nor funded by it. The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Visveshwara Hegde Kageri had said the government has only asked the education department to extend cooperation to the programme as it has been doing for other schemes like planting of saplings organised by various organisations.

Kageri's reported remarks at a recent function in Kolar that those opposing the programme should leave the country have raised a controversy.