Supreme Court paves way for Shri Banke Bihari Temple corridor in Vrindavan

The Supreme Court on Thursday paved the way for the Shri Banke Bihari Temple corridor project in Vrindavan for the benefit of millions of devotees.

A Bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to utilise the funds of Shri Banke Bihari Temple for the purchase of five-acre land around the temple to create a holding area.

"We permit the state of Uttar Pradesh to implement the scheme in its entirety. The Banke Bihari Ji Trust is having fixed deposits in the name of the deity/temple...the state government is permitted to utilise the amount lying in the fixed deposit to acquire the land proposed," it said.

On an average, the famous Banke Bihari Temple at Vrindavan registers a footfall of 30,000 to 40,000 devotees a day which touches 1.5 lakh on weekends and goes up to five lakh on special festival days such as Shri Krishna Janmashtami.

Spread over five-acre land -- from the banks of the Yamuna to the Banke Bihari Temple, the project on its completion would accommodate up to 50,000 visitors at a time.

The Supreme Court ordered that the acquired land shall be registered in the name of the deity.

It modified the order of the Allahabad High Court, which had prohibited the purchase of land around the temple using its funds.

"The State of Uttar Pradesh has undertaken to incur costs of more than Rs 500 crore to develop the corridor. However, they propose to utilise the Temple funds for purchasing the land in question; which was denied by the High Court vide order dated November 8, 2023. We permit the State of Uttar Pradesh to implement the scheme in its entirety,” it said.

The top court's approval to the state government's development plan for the Shri Banke Bihari Temple Corridor came particularly in light of incidents such as the 2022 stampede at the Banke Bihari Temple.

"It pains this Court to take notice of the fact that the temple was a site of an unfortunate stampede in 2022, caused due to the lack of infrastructure that can support the large crowd of devotees that visit the temple brimming with bhakti to offer their prayers," it noted.

Taking note of alleged maladministration in temples in the Braj region, the Bench emphasised that effective temple governance is not only a legal requirement but also a matter of public and spiritual welfare.

It directed the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Mathura, to appoint a Receiver having relevant adequate administrative experience, historical, religious and social background, preferably belonging to the Vaishnav Sampradaya.

"It is an established fact that the historical temples are old structures; they require proper upkeep and other logistic support, and added to the fact is that in a large number of temples, Receivers have been appointed for decades now which was originally intended to be a stop-gap temporary measure. It is unfortunate that while appointing Receivers, the concerned courts are not keeping in mind that Mathura and Vrindavan, the two most sacred places for Vaishnav Sampradayas and, therefore, persons from Vaishnava Sampradayas should be appointed as Receivers. This will give true meaning to the High Court's directions pertaining to persons who are having adequate administrative experience, historical, religious, social background, and not advocates to be appointed as Receivers," the Bench said.