The Supreme Court will hear next week a petition challenging the Uttar Pradesh ordinance taking over Banke Bihari Temple’s management. “How many temples taken over by law?” the bench asked while seeking data on similar cases nationwide.
New Delhi: The management committee of the famous Banke Bihari temple in Mathura has gone to the Supreme Court challenging the Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025.
This new law gives full control of the temple’s management to a trust created by the state government.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the temple committee. He strongly opposed the ordinance and said that the temple has a large fund of around Rs.400 crore, yet the temple management was not even made a party in the case.
Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi heard the matter.
He said,
“The temple has a Rs.400 crore corpus but wasn’t made a party. This Court asked for Rs.300 crore to be deposited. That application is listed tomorrow. Earlier orders also directed the ordinance to be placed on record.”
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During the hearing, Justice Kant asked Mr. Sibal to raise the issue before the Chief Justice of India.
He said,
“Please mention it before the CJI. Either this case goes there or that one comes here we can’t decide that.”
Mr. Sibal argued that the government has taken full control of the temple without any charges of financial mismanagement.
He said,
“The ordinance takes full control of the temple without any allegation of fund misuse. This is a private temple unlike earlier cases involving public temples.”
In response, Justice Kant made an observation about the importance of this temple and said that there is huge public interest involved.
He added,
“It concerns donations and development in a high footfall area. Go there once you’ll understand. The administrator is only ad hoc.”
At the end of the hearing, the Supreme Court asked the parties to find out how many temples in the country have been taken over through laws passed by the government.
The bench said,
“Find out how many temples across India have been taken over through legislative means. We’ll hear the matter next week.”
The plea, filed by advocate Tanvi Dubey on behalf of the temple’s management committee and “sewayat” Rajat Goswami, argues that the state’s move is “visibly mala fide.”
The committee has 350 members and strongly opposed the ordinance, pointing out that an earlier issueabout using the temple’s funds to buy five acres of land was already decided by the Allahabad High Court on November 8, 2023, in their favour.
According to the petitioners, the High Court had clearly denied the state permission to use the temple’s funds for land acquisition.
During the earlier court hearings, the Uttar Pradesh government highlighted the difficult condition of the temple, saying it is only 1,200 square feet in size but receives nearly 50,000 devotees daily, with the number going up to 1.5 to 2 lakh on weekends and over 5 lakh during festivals.
The government reminded the court that the Uttar Pradesh Braj Planning and Development Board Act, 2015, was passed to look after the development and protection of Braj heritage, including this temple in Mathura.
Case Title: MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF THAKUR SHREE BANKEY BIHARI JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE AND ANR. V STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 704/2025
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