New Delhi: The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is keen that a retired Allahabad High Court judge from the Vaishnav sect head a committee the Supreme Court proposes to constitute to manage the affairs of the Bankey Bihari Temple in Mathura.
In a note submitted to the apex court Tuesday, the state government supported the SC’s suggestion for an eight-member interim committee headed by a former HC judge for the temple. A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi proposed the idea Monday, when it heard two petitions filed by the temple management.
The court said the committee could oversee the affairs of the temple until the Shri Banke Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025 comes into effect. A petition pending before the Supreme Court has challenged the ordinance that would allow the UP government to take over the temple’s management, thus ending the decades-old control vested with the Goswamis.
The board of trustees or the “sewa adhikari Goswamis” of the Bankey Bihari Mandir are descendants of Swami Haridas’s younger brother, Goswami Jagannath.
The UP government’s note said the former judge to head the committee “may be one who is a Sanathan Hindu, belonging to the Vaishnav Sect, so that the religious sentiments of devotees of the Shree Bankey Biharji Maharaj are upheld.”
Both the SC judges found the request unusual. Addressing the UP government’s counsel—additional solicitor general KM Nataraj—the bench said that it would be difficult to find such a judge. “Belonging to the same religion (Hindu) is enough,” said Justice Bagchi.
Another petition questions the SC’s order of May this year that allowed the UP government to utilise temple funds for a corridor development project around the shrine.
During the hearing of the two matters, justices Kant and Bagchi Monday advised the petitioners to move the High Court with their plea to quash the state ordinance. In the interim, it said, the court will form a committee for the temple’s management. This would, however, not include performing the daily rituals, which the SC said will continue to be done by the Goswamis.
The other members to be empaneled as per UP’s note are the Civil Judge of Mathura, who has been managing the temple’s affairs for many years, the District Magistrate (DM), Senior Superintendent of Police, Municipal Commissioner, the Vice Chairman of the Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority (MVDA), the Principal Secretary of the Dharmarth Karya Department, the UP government and a representative of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The presence of the DM, SSP and Municipal Commissioner would help the committee manage law and order as well as prevent incidents similar to a stampede that happened in 2022 around the temple area. The inclusion of MVDA’s Vice Chairman will enable better planning and development of the area’s masterplan, according to the state government’s plan.
While the ASI representative will ensure that old structures are preserved and conserved, the Principal Secretary of the Dharmarth Karya Department will ensure state’s support in the development of the area.
During Monday’s hearing, the Supreme Court asked why the Uttar Pradesh government was in a “tearing hurry” to announce the ordinance to take over the management of the temple. The apex court also asked the government about the manner in which it secured permission to use the temple funds for the corridor development project.
The UP government’s note provides a brief background on how it got involved in the development work of the Bankey Bihar Temple Corridor project.
A petition filed in the Allahabad High Court following a stampede during Janmashtami celebrations in August 2022 led to the UP government becoming a party in the case. The state was asked to formulate a plan for better management of the temple and its surroundings to prevent occurrences of similar incidents in future.
On the HC’s directions, the state proposed to create a trust to carry out effective administration and management of the temple. It also envisaged development of the temple area as a corridor, with the purchase of about five acres of land around the temple. This would also facilitate prayers being offered by devotees.
The reason for utilising temple funds (around Rs 200 crore) for developing the corridor was to ensure that ownership remains with the deity, the state said.
Apart from this, the state would infuse around Rs 5 crore to develop the corridor. This scheme, according to the UP government, was approved by the High Court on 8 November, 2023. Goswamis were party to the order, but later objected to the utilisation of the funds after the ordinance was brought in, the note said.
(Edited by Nisheeth Upadhyay)
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