The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will not tolerate any impediment to the redevelopment of Mathura’s Bankey Bihari temple after a high powered committee constituted by the court leveled serious allegations of pilferage of temple donations by priests and obstacles in acquiring the surrounding area.
Their family members have also refused the sale of land in the development area owned by them, and there is open defiance to the proposal for constructing multi-storeyed facilities providing for a medical facility, washrooms, waiting lounge, food court, and other facilities for pilgrims. Besides the retired judge, the HPTC has the Mathura district magistrate/collector as member-secretary, two district judicial officers, senior superintendent of police (Mathura), municipal commissioner (Mathura); and vice chairman, Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority among other members.
Singh said, “The Goswamis are instigating the owners of the surrounding properties not to sell their land in favour of the temple. The state’s ordinance titled “ Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025 ” earned the ire of the Goswami community, as they cited a 1939 judicial decree in a suit giving them rights to run the temple’s affairs. They said that the ordinance allowed state control of a private temple in total ignorance of the law giving them the right to administer and preserve their religious rights.
