Controversy over the appointment of Swami Avimukteshwaranand as the new Shankaracharya

The Sanyasi Akhara has refused to accept Swami Avimukteshwar as the new Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth after the death of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. Shankaracharya of Dwarka-Sharda Peeth of Gujarat and Jyotish Peeth of Uttarakhand died in his ashram on September 11. After this, on the basis of the will of Swami Swaroopanand, Subodhanand Maharaj, the personal secretary and disciple of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, declared Avimukteshwaranand as the new Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth.
Regarding this announcement, Mahant Ravindra Puri, secretary of Niranjani Akhara and president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, has claimed that the appointment of Avimukteshwaranand has been done against the rules. He said that there is a procedure for the appointment of Shankaracharya which was not followed. He said that all the seven Akharas would meet soon to chalk out a strategy for the appointment of a new Shankaracharya.
Born on 15 August 1969, Swami Avimukteshwaranand's childhood name was Umashankar Pandey. After studying till class 6 in the village, his family members sent him out for further studies. Once his father took him to Gujarat where he met the saint Ramchaitanya of Kashi. He left his son there. Umashankar was then sixty years old. Staying here, Umashankar started worshiping and studying.
After studying in Gujarat for 5 years, Umashankar reached Kashi. In Kashi, he met Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. After this, he studied at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. In the year 2000, he took initiation from Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati and became his disciple. Then he became Swami Avimukteshwaranand from Umashankar Pandey.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati announced the puja on 4th June 2022 at the Gyanvapi complex. He went on a fast for 108 hours after being stopped by the police administration. After that, he ended his fast at the behest of Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.
Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati passed away after suffering a minor heart attack. He breathed his last on September 11 at Paramhansi Ganga Ashram at Jhoteshwar in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh at 3:50 pm.
Shankaracharya was ailing for a long time. He was undergoing treatment in Bangalore. Recently he had returned to the ashram. Swami Shankaracharya also went to jail in the freedom struggle. He also fought a long legal battle for the construction of the Ram temple.