Priests can't pick work based on castes: Uttarakhand High Court

Upper caste priests cannot refuse to perform religious rituals for people belonging to lower castes, the Uttarakhand High Court ruled.

"The high caste priests in Uttarakhand shall not refuse to perform religious rituals on behalf of the members belonging to lower castes in all the religious places," ordered a division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Lok Pal Singh. The Bench added that constitutionally, "All the persons irrespective of their caste are permitted to enter any temple in state..."

The division bench, while disposing off a petition related to a temple in Haridwar, said that any properly trained and qualified person can be appointed as priest in a temple, irrespective of his caste, as laid down by the Supreme Court.

The High Court was hearing a PIL filed in 2016 by members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities who are visitors of a dharamshala in Haridwar, which houses a temple to Sant Ravidas.