Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 10: The Supreme Court today declined to entertain a plea seeking directions to constitute committees for examining encroachment of temple properties across the country, observing that it cannot issue pan-India directions on such matters.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a writ petition filed by Gautam Anand seeking nationwide oversight mechanisms for temple lands. At the outset, the CJI noted that temple management trusts already exist in various states and issues of mismanagement can be addressed by courts on a case-by-case basis.
The counsel for the petitioner argued that temple websites lack basic information, including details of properties, encroachments and damage to temple structures. He submitted that only a handful of temples fall under statutory trusts and referred to orders of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court directing the takeover and protection of several shrines.
“Nothing is there on the website, they do not have the list of the temples which have been destroyed by fire or by militants or how much land has been encroached. Those who are under the Trust, there are only 4-5 temples”, he added.
The counsel also referred to a few orders of the J&K High Court which directed the handover of 9 Hindu shrines to District Magistrates to look into the issue of encroachment of these temple lands.
Notably, this includes the 2024 High Court order where it directed the Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar to take over the management of over 159 kanals of land belonging to the Raghu Nath Ji Temple in Barzulla Srinagar. The High Court also directed the Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag to take over the management of Nagbal Gautam Nag Temple.
The counsel submitted that he is only seeking committees to keep track of temple encroachments across the country. The CJI, however, said, “we do not want to issue directions which become unmanageable”.
The bench proceeded to dismiss the matter while observing: “It seems to us that no omnibus directions can be issued on a pan-India basis”. The Supreme Court, however, granted liberty to the petitioner to make representation before the concerned authorities only for case specific issues.
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