The Supreme Court Friday told petitioners who have challenged the Uttar Pradesh Ordinance which put in place a trust to manage the affairs of the Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan, that it will soon pass orders constituting an interim committee headed by a former judge of the Allahabad High Court for managing the shrine’s affairs until that court decides the Ordinance’s constitutional validity.
“We will grant you liberty to challenge the Ordinance before the High Court. The constitution of the Committee as per the Ordinance will be kept in abeyance so that the Ordinance is not given effect till the matter is decided by the High Court…in the interregnum, we will constitute a Committee headed by a former judge of the HC,” Justice Surya Kant presiding over a two-judge bench said.
The bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said the committee will include some government officials as well as representatives of the shrine’s traditional caretakers, and will oversee improving the facilities.
“We will infuse some officials in the Committee. Some of you also. We are broadly telling you. We will authorise the Chairman of the Committee to have some Goswamis also… the Committee will see to developmental activities in the area,” Justice Kant added.
The court said that until the Allahabad High Court decides the matter, the committee proposed under the Ordinance will be kept in abeyance.
The bench also said it will set aside the directions in the May 25 order allowing the UP Government to use the Banke Bihari Temple funds for buying land around it for a proposed corridor project.
Appearing for the UP government, Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj pointed out that some parallel proceedings are ongoing before the high court in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), and the HC had appointed amicus curiae in the matter and also passed some orders.
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The SC then stayed the high court single-judge order and asked the HC Chief Justice to assign it to a division bench, saying that matters pertaining to the constitutionality of statutes are generally heard by division benches.
