The hearing of the case related to the management of Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan has been postponed in the Supreme Court for Friday, August 8. In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed the intention of handing over the management to the committee of the retired High Court Judge. On Tuesday (August 5, 2025), the UP government agreed to this. On this, the petitioner side also said to give written suggestions. Hearing on his request was postponed.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi expressed satisfaction after seeing the written reply of the Uttar Pradesh government. He said that this answer is almost in the same direction as the idea of the court. Justice Surya Kant told the Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraja presented to the state government, ‘But the qualification of the committee chairman has written, it is difficult. The judges do not have such qualifications. It will be so enough to our view that he should be from this religion.
The petition that the Supreme Court is hearing, the current management committee of the temple has filed against the government’s attempt to intervene in the management. On behalf of the petitioner side, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said, “It seems from the government’s written reply that she wants to dominate her despite handing over the leadership to the retired judge. ‘ On this, the bench said, “It will be taken care of in the order, but it is important to understand that the committee will not be able to work without including the local administration.”
Traditional priests and Goswamis’ Management Committee has opposed the ordinance related to the temple management of the state government. He has said that the government wants to manage the temple in its hands. The government is going to use the funds of the temple for the development of the surrounding area. For this, an order has also been taken from the Supreme Court on May 15. The Supreme Court has said that the committee should challenge the ordinance in the High Court. Till then, the committee managed under the chairmanship of the retired High Court Judge as an interim system.
The UP government has made it clear in the reply filed in the Supreme Court that it has no intention of interfering in religious activities. She only wants to make better arrangements for millions of devotees coming to the temple. The current committee is protesting simply because it does not want to let the income from the offerings of the devotees be spent in the interest of everyone.
During the hearing, Sibal advised that for the control of the crowd, only 25-25 thousand devotees should be fixed to come to the temple. On this, Justice Kant said, ‘This is not possible. People from all over the country reach there with reverence. Can not tie them in the limit of number. After this, the court asked both sides to suggest names for the chairman of the committee. Those names will be considered.