MUMBAI, March 21 -- Acting on a petition filed by a priest's son, the Bombay High Court recently declared that the Ekveera Devasthan, a shrine located in Karla caves in Pune, and its trustees had to ensure that priests receive their rightful share of offerings and donations, as laid down in a scheme approved by the charity commissioner. The court was hearing a petition filed by Bhagawant Raghuji Deshmukh, son of a priest, Gurav, who challenged an earlier decision of the assistant charity commissioner in Pune. The official had refused to hear his plea, saying that Deshmukh should approach a civil court to enforce his rights. Deshmukh argued that, after his father's death, he was entitled to one-eighth of the offerings and donations given to the temple as per the trust scheme. He urged the court to direct the trustees to give him his share and allow him to perform prayers before the deity, goddess Ekveera, a prominent deity of the Koli and Agri communities. Deshmukh told the high court that members of the Gurav family had traditionally performed rituals at the shrine in rotation and received their share of the offerings and donations. However, since 2005-06, they were allegedly neither allowed to perform the prayers nor given their share, he added. A division bench of justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande agreed with Deshmukh. The court noted that the existing trust scheme clearly states that priests are entitled to 75% of the offerings and donations. The bench said Deshmukh was only asking for the implementation of this scheme, and the Assistant Charity Commissioner was wrong in refusing to hear the case. "We find that the scheme formulated under Section 41-A (of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act) being in force, the applicant is seeking for its implementation and hence, rejection of the application by the assistant charity commissioner according to us was completely unjustified," the bench said and directed that the trust and the trustees "were bound by the Scheme formulated by the Charity Commissioner and must act in aid thereof."...