The Uttarakhand high court has once again directed the State government to restore the Samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya which had been washed away in the 2013 Kedarnath disaster. The state government has been directed to restore the Samadhi within one year. The court has directed the petitioner that in case the needful is not done within a year, he can approach the court again.

In its earlier order on a PIL filed by Delhi resident Ajay Gautam, the high court had during October 2018 directed the state government to restore the Samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya within a year. However, since this task has not yet been done, on the previous date in the hearing of the PIL, the high court had expressed its displeasure and asked why should contempt proceeding not be initiated against the government. In its affidavit submitted in the court on Thursday, the state government sought one year time to restore the Samadhi. It was stated in the affidavit that making a grand Samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya is a dream project of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, due to the conditions resulting from Covid-19, this task could not be completed on time. The high court division bench of chief justice RS Chauhan and justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari granted the state government one year for completion of the task.

It will be recalled that in his PIL, Gautam had sought restoration of Adi Shankaracharya’s Samadhi in Kedarnath after it was swept away in the 2013 disaster. In its order dated October 10, 2018, the high court had directed the state government to complete the restoration of the Samadhi in one year. The petitioner then pointed out that the earlier order of the court had not been implemented. He pointed out that it was Adi Shankaracharya who had established four Peeth across the nation including Badrinath in Uttarakhand. Despite the importance of his Samadhi, the state government had not restored it despite Kedarnath reconstruction being PM Modi’s dream project, the petitioner had contended.