NEW DELHI, July 1 -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition for handing over exclusive control of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar to Buddhists, and asked the petitioner to approach the concerned high court. The petition challenged the constitutional validity of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act, 1949, which entrusted the management of the Mahabodhi temple to a nine-member committee with a Hindu majority. The petition filed by Sulekhatai Nalinitai Narayanrao Kumbhare, a lawyer and former Maharashtra minister, claimed that the management of the temple should be with Buddhists and that the legislation was unconstitutional for violating the right of Buddhists to profess their religion and manage their religious institutions "Inclusion of members in the committee who are non-Buddhists i.e. Hindus is violative of protections guaranteed to the Buddhist citizens of India and the Lord Buddha himself guaranteed under Articles 19 (right to fundamental freedoms), 21 (life and liberty), 25 (freedom of religion), 26 (right to administer institutions), 28 and 29 (minority rights) of the Constitution of India," the petition said. Refusing to entertain the petition, a bench of justices MM Sundresh and K Vinod Chandran, sitting during the partial court working days, said, "How can we issue mandamus? You please approach the high court. This is not maintainable under Article 32." Senior advocate Ravindra Laxman Khapre, representing the petitioner, pointed out that due to mismanagement and indifference to the temple, the sacred Bodhi tree at the site is in danger of decay as found out by a committee of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The bench dismissed the petition, allowing the petitioner to raise these issues before the high court. "We are not inclined to entertain the petition. Liberty is granted to approach the high court." The petition stated that the Mahabodhi temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the holiest Buddhist shrine in India, is not under the exclusive management of Buddhists....