News Corp Australia
First published 17 Mar 2025, 7:30am
A group of Kensington Park residents appear to have won a lengthy campaign to stop a doctor using his home as a place of worship.
Dr Jagannath (Jack) Mudaliar said he was “bloody frustrated’’ with ongoing complaints from neighbours and had decided to sell the six-bedroom home at 267 Beulah Rd, where he has lived for more than 35 years.
“I’m not going to fight this anymore. Stuff it. I’ve had enough,’’ Dr Mudaliar said.
“The best thing is to move on. I’ll just (worship) in my own place (a recently purchased property in Adelaide’s north) singularly, with no crowds.’’
In 2020, Burnside Council’s assessment panel approved Dr Mudaliar’s application to use the Kensington Park home to practice his Sathya Sai Baba faith, attracting the ire of neighbours.
MORE NEWS
Modest house sold for same price as mansion
Original settlers cottage sells in multimillion-dollar deal
The $50 rental that could float your boat
The private worship space has been the centre of many noise complaints from neighbours.
The temple hasn’t hosted any events since Covid.
The property has been a home and temple for 35 years.
Dr Mudaliar – who started holding religious activities at the home in 2007 – was given permission to hold regular events on Thursday nights, from 7pm to 9pm, for up to 25 people.
Since then, Dr Mudaliar said neighbours had continuously complained about increased traffic and parking issues, noise and even odours coming from his home – despite no religious activities being held at the property since Covid.
He said volunteers used to meet at his home and use the commercial kitchen facilities to prepare up to 450 meals a week for the Hutt Street homeless centre but that had also ceased at the start of the pandemic.
“(The complaints were) purely anti-religion,’’ Dr Mudaliar said.
“I’ve spent $17,000 fighting them.
“I got a sound engineer to come and look (investigate the noise complaints) and it was about 10dB inside my door (generally considered to be the sound level of normal breathing) and it was zero at my gate.
“We got a traffic inspector for complaints about the cars and they said traffic was never a problem.
“Everything was in my favour. Every little thing (objection raised to the religious activities) we have won.’’
Dr Jack Mudaliar is selling his Kensington Park home of 35 years.
The main living space.
The main bedroom comes with garden views.
One of the home’s four kitchens.
The home, which has a $2.1m price guide, comes with a huge temple, or rumpus room, with elaborate wall murals and gold-coloured pillars.
It has three kitchens (two of which are suitable for commercial use), an underground coolroom, a front living and dining area and three bathrooms.
The established gardens boast a variety of fruit trees, including mangoes, bananas and guavas.
Despite complaints raised about the temple, Dr Mudaliar said the home, across the road from Haslam Oval and close to Pembroke School, had been a wonderful place to raise his family.
He said it was well-suited to buyers looking for space to operate a catering business, hairdressing salon or wellness retreat – but expected it would likely sell to developers.
“You can’t run it as a temple anymore (without receiving further complaints) and it’s a very specific type of house,’’ he said.
“I think it’s more than likely it will become high-rises (be demolished for high density housing).’’
The property, which is listed with Ouwens Casserly Real Estate, will be auctioned on Saturday, March 22.
– By Lauren Ahwan
English (US) · 