SC sets up panel led by ex-HC judge for Banke Bihari temple

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Saturday set up an 11-member interim high-powered committee headed by former Allahabad high court judge Justice Ashok Kumar to "oversee and supervise the day-to-day functioning inside and outside of the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan and plan "holistic development" of the temple and its surroundings.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also gave green signal to the Uttar Pradesh govt to proceed with the acquisition of land around the temple required for developing a corridor on the lines of the one built for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

Without expressing any opinion on the legality of the state's ordinance for developing the temple and its surrounding as well as building the corridor by taking Rs 200 crore from the temple fund, the bench said it is for the Allahabad HC to decide the validity of the ordinance. It requested the HC to decide the constitutionality of the ordinance within one year of fresh writ petitions filed against it.

Rejecting applications filed by pujaris and other interested persons objecting to suggestions for improving the temple functioning, the bench said, "We see absolutely no merit in these objections, at this stage, especially when we have granted liberty to challenge the ordinance before the HC."