Bill to form trust for Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan introduced in UP assembly
The bill proposes creating a trust to manage the temple and is expected to be taken up for passage on Thursday.
The bill proposes the establishment of a board of government-appointed trustees, comprising 11 nominated and 7 ex officio members.
Both the temple management and members of the Sewayat Goswami community had approached the top court challenging the May 26 ordinance as well as a judgment of the top court passed on May 15 that allowed the state to use temple funds for a corridor project in a 5-kilometre space around the temple.
As an interim measure, the top court's bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, in its August 8 ruling also constituted a 14-member interim committee to carry out the daily administration of Mathura's Banke Bihari temple. This committee would be headed by retired Allahabad high court judge justice Ashok Kumar.
The court also modified the May 15 order and deleted the portions permitting the state to use temple funds from the judgment, noting that the top court committed the error of passing the order without hearing the Goswami community, who were stakeholders in the day-to-day affairs of the temple.
Several petitions were filed against the ordinance by which the state has assumed administrative control of the temple by creating a trust and ousting the members of the Goswami community, who previously managed the temple affairs, under a judicial order issued in 1939.
In the assembly on Wednesday, the government highlighted the objectives and reasons of the proposed bill, underlining that the temple in Vrindavan town of Mathura district was an ancient and world-famous shrine. Every year, a large number of devotees and tourists visit the temple, which spans approximately 870 square metres, including a scenic courtyard that covers around 365 square metres.
Due to the extremely narrow access route to the temple, devotees and visitors face severe inconvenience. The tragic death of two devotees during an incident of overcrowding on August 20 2022 highlighted the urgent need for efficient crowd management, it said.
'To fulfill the above-mentioned objectives, and for the all-round development and proper management of the Shri Bankey Bihari ji Temple area including pilgrimage, religious, cultural, spiritual, and establishment-related aspects and to ensure the temple's development and regulation in an organized manner, it was decided to constitute a trust named – Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust,' the bill said, adding that the trust would get rights over all offerings and properties of the temple, its including movable and immovable properties.
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