Supreme Court Clears Banke Bihari Corridor, Permits Land Purchase From Temple Deposits

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Last Updated:May 15, 2025, 21:12 IST

The Supreme Court connected Thursday paved mode for a Uttar Pradesh authorities strategy to make the Shri Banke Bihari Temple corridor successful Mathura for the payment of scores of devotees.

Devotees successful Bankey Bihari temple, Vrindavan (File)

The Supreme Court connected Thursday paved mode for a Uttar Pradesh authorities strategy to make the Shri Banke Bihari Temple corridor successful Mathura for the payment of scores of devotees.

A seat of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed the Uttar Pradesh government’s plea to utilise the funds of Shri Banke Bihari Temple lone for the acquisition of 5-acre onshore astir the temple to make a holding area.

"We licence the authorities of Uttar Pradesh to instrumentality the strategy successful its entirety. The Banke Bihari Ji Trust is having fixed deposits successful the sanction of the deity/temple…the authorities authorities is permitted to utilise the magnitude lying successful the fixed deposit to get the onshore proposed," it said.

The apical court, however, said the onshore to beryllium acquired for the purposes of improvement of the temple and corridor should beryllium successful the sanction of the deity/trust.

In the process, it modified the November 8, 2023 bid of the Allahabad High Court connected a PIL filed by the Uttar Pradesh authorities which accepted the state’s ambitious strategy but refused to licence the authorities to utilise the temple funds.

The seat observed arsenic the tribunal was successful seisin of the origin qua the medication and information of temples successful the Braj region, it was successful nationalist involvement to determine the contented raised by Uttar Pradesh authorities expeditiously.

Under the projected strategy placed connected grounds by the authorities for improvement for the temple, the tribunal said, 5 acre onshore astir the temple had to beryllium acquired and developed by constructing parking lots, accommodation for the devotees, toilets, information cheque posts and different amenities.

The precocious tribunal observed successful its bid connected November 8, 2023, the acquisition of onshore astir the temple and the consequent improvement task was important to guarantee the information of the pilgrims.

The seat observed the authorities authorities would incur costs of implicit Rs 500 crore to make the corridor and had projected to utilise the temple funds for purchasing the onshore successful question which was denied by the precocious court.

The Uttar Pradesh authorities pointed retired the dire concern of the Banke Bihari Temple successful Mathura and the deficiency of due medication and amenities.

The temple, dispersed implicit a constricted country of lone 1,200 quadrate feet, has a regular footfall of 50,000 devotees, which was betwixt 1.5 and 2 lakh connected the weekends and upwards of 5 lakh during festivals, it said.

The authorities said the Uttar Pradesh Braj Planning and Development Board Act, 2015 was enacted for the development, preservation and maintaining the Braj Heritage successful Mathura district.

Under the Act, it said, a parishad with indispensable expertise to administer the temples successful the portion was constituted, and accordingly its services could beryllium utilised for appointing head for these temples.

The bench, connected the different hand, said a civilian suit had been pending for implicit 25 years with lone the tribunal receiver moving the amusement indicating "maladministration" moving "deep and wide".

Prominent temples–Radha Vallabh Mandir, Vrindavan; Dauji Maharaj Mandir, Baldeo; Nandkila Nand Bhawan Mandir, Gokul; Mukharbind, Goverdhan; Danghati, Goverdhan; Anant Shri Bhibhushit, Vrindavan and Mandir Shree Ladli Ji Maharaj, Barsana– successful the portion were each nether the grip of receivers and astir of them were managed by practising advocates of Mathura, it added.

The seat noted that immoderate different temples successful the area, including the Shri Banke Bihari Temple was being administered by a civilian judge.

"It is an established information that the humanities temples are aged structures and necessitate due upkeep and different logistic support, and added to the information is that successful a ample fig of temples, receivers person been appointed for decades present which was primitively intended to beryllium a stop-gap impermanent measure," it noted.

The seat recovered it "unfortunate" that courts erstwhile appointing receivers, did not see that Mathura and Vrindavan, were the 2 astir ineffable places for Vaishnav Sampradayas and, therefore, "persons from Vaishnav Sampradayas should beryllium appointed arsenic receivers".

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