Find out how many shrines have states taken over SC asks Banke Bihari temple panel

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday asked the temple management committee of the historic Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura to find out the number of temple administrations in India taken over by governments through laws.
     "How many hundreds of temples have been taken over by the government, by the state? Whatever donation they are getting...better you visit there and find out,” the top court asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the management committee.
     A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a plea against the constitutionality of the Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025.
     The plea, filed through advocate Tanvi Dubey, of the management committee of the Thakur Shree Banke Bihari Ji Maharaj Temple in Mathura challenges the ordinance, which vested the control of the shrine's administration with the state.
     After it was informed another application concerning the temple was pending before a different bench, the top court said orders from the chief justice of India were required to list both cases before a single bench.
     In the beginning of the hearing, the bench questioned why did the petitioners move the top court directly, instead of the Allahabad High Court.
     Sibal outlined the background of the dispute and said the state government was attempting to take over the management of a private religious institution.
     He highlighted that the top court recently permitted the Uttar Pradesh government to utilise Rs 300 crore of temple funds for the redevelopment of a corridor project, a decision currently under challenge.
     In the related matter, temple devotee Devendra Goswami has filed an application seeking a recall of the apex court’s May 15 order, arguing that it was passed without hearing the temple's management committee.
     The plea of the temple management committee, comprising 350 members and "sewayat" Rajat Goswami, has said the state's conduct was "mala fide" as an issue concerning the use of temple funds to acquire five acres of land was already decided by the high court on November 8, 2023 and it has denied the state the permission to use the temple funds for acquiring the land.
     The committee said the Uttar Pradesh government did not file appeals against the high court's November 8, 2023 order and instead, an impleadment application was filed in the pending plea before the top court.
     "The said SLP was concerning a completely different issue concerning elections in Giriraj Seva Samiti which is totally a separate issue from Banke Bihari ji Maharaj temple. A direction was passed in order dated May 15, 2025 by the Supreme Court, inter alia, granting permission to the state of Uttar Pradesh to utilise temple funds to acquire five acres of land," the plea says.
     An application was filed subsequently against the May 15 order of the top court, primarily on the ground that neither the temple nor the "sewayats" were ever made a party to the present dispute.
     The management committee said the impugned ordinance unlawfully preempts and frustrates the outcome of a PIL pending before the Allahabad High Court concerning the administration of the Banke Bihari temple.
     "Thus, the governor was exercising a colourable exercise of power enacting the ordinance under the pretext of an emergency when the matter was sub-judice and pending before the high court, thereby tainting the ordinance with a mala-fide intent. The nexus between the timing of the ordinance and the circumstances surrounding it points towards the mala fide nature of the order," the management committee said.
     On May 15, the top court allowed an impleadment application filed by the state and paved the way for a Uttar Pradesh government scheme to develop the Shri Banke Bihari Temple Corridor in Mathura for the benefit of scores of devotees.
     It allowed the state's plea to utilise the funds of the Banke Bihari temple only for the purchase of a five-acre land around the temple to create a holding area.
     The top court, however, said the land to be acquired for the purposes of development of the temple and the corridor should be in the name of the deity or the trust.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)