Today (20th March) Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, presiding over the case, noted that in today’s digital age, the state should automatically transfer the allocated funds to the temples’ accounts at the beginning of each financial year, avoiding undue delays and administrative hurdles.
UTTAR PRADESH: On Wednesday (20th March): The Allahabad High Court demanded explanations regarding the withholding of annuities for nine temples in Vrindavan, including the prominent Thakur Rangji Maharaj Virajman Mandir, over the past four years.
Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, presiding over the case, noted that in today’s digital age, the state should automatically transfer the allocated funds to the temples’ accounts at the beginning of each financial year, avoiding undue delays and administrative hurdles.
The court, expressing concern over the situation, emphasized that it is disheartening to witness temples and trusts resorting to legal recourse to secure their rightful dues from the state government. Justice Agarwal criticized the bureaucratic inertia that necessitates such interventions, stressing that the release of temple annuities should be a routine administrative function.
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“The letter written by the district magistrate, Mathura, to the special secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, at Lucknow is an indicator to the effect that the officials sitting at Lucknow do not care for the release of annuities to trusts and temples,” the court said in a recent order.
The court, after hearing the parties concerned, said that it is “pained to note that temples and trusts have to knock on the doors of the court to get their dues released from the state government, which should have automatically flowed from the treasury of the state into the account of temples.”.
“It is an annual feature, and the officer concerned should have made the necessary arrangements for releasing the annuity of the temple in question,” Justice Agarwal observed.
The court observed that “the funds should have directly flown from the government to the temples without the temples having to approach the court.”
The petition filed by the Thakur Rangji Maharaj Virajman Mandir highlights the urgency of releasing the annuities as directed by the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act of 1950. The temple’s plea stated that the Mathura district magistrate and the senior treasury officer have withheld the annuities without valid justification for the past four years.
According to the temple’s petition, an amount totaling Rs 9,12,507 meant for nine temples, including the Thakur Rangji Maharaj Virajman Mandir, has been withheld due to the lack of permission from the Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue.
Previously, the court had directed the commissioner or secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue to provide a personal affidavit explaining the reasons behind the withheld annuities. The board cited financial constraints as the primary reason for withholding the funds, a justification rebuked by the court, which argued that funds should seamlessly flow from the government to the temples without necessitating legal intervention.
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Observing the lack of concerted efforts to secure budgetary allocations from the government, the court summoned the commissioner or secretary of the board to appear before it on March 20. This move underscores the court’s commitment to ensuring the timely disbursement of temple annuities and upholding the rights of religious institutions.
