Thursday, April 21 2005 18:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ruling that State has power to oversee administration of a temple, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking to debar all 'Hindu' Ministers of the former leftist Government in Kerala from nominating members to the Managing Committee of Guruvayoor Devaswom.

Upholding a 1999 Kerala High Court order, a Bench comprising Justice H K Sema and Justice S B Sinha said, "To debar all 'Hindu' ministers of leftist Government, from nominating members to the Managing Committee of the Guruvayoor Devaswom, will lead to a stalemate in the Management of the Devaswom".

Observing that, "The management of the temple primarily is a secular act", it said, "Indisputedly, the State has the requisite jurisdiction to oversee administration of a temple subject to Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India.

Petitioners M P Gopalakrishna Nair, President of Kerala Kshetra Samarakshina, and the General Secretary of Kerala unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had challenged the Kerala High Court judgement saying, as the Ministers owe allegiance to the Marxist ideology and were against any religious practice, they should not be nominating Members to the Managing Committee.

Justice Sinha, writing for the Bench, said, "A Hindu admittedly may or may not be a person professing Hindu religion or a believer in temple worship. A Hindu has a right to choose his own method of worship, Idol worship, rituals and ceremonies may not be practised by a person although he may profess Hindu religion."

The apex court said that the Guruvayoor Devaswom Act, 1978 has ensured that only persons who believe in temple worship were to be in the management of the temple and that none except the Thantri got any voice in the spiritual administration of the temple.

Differentiating matters relating to worship of the deity and the management of the Devaswom, Justice Sinha termed as absurd the insistence that persons nominating the members to the Managing Committee should also believe in temple worship.

"To insist on such a qualification in the electorate will be as bad as saying that when the law relating to a temple is under consideration in the legislature, only Hindu legislators can vote and they must further be qualified as believers in temple worship," he said.

The apex Court said, "The management of the temple primarily is a secular act. The temple authority controls the activities of various servants of the temple. It manages several institutions including educational institutions pertaining to it.

"The disciplinary power over the servants of the temple, including the priest may vest in a committee. The payment of remuneration to the temple servants was also not a religious act but was of purely secular in nature," it added.

Holding that it was the secular aspect of the management of the Guruvayoor Devaswom that was vested in the Managing Committee, the apex court said that it did not find any infirmity in the High Court judgement of 1999 and dismissed the appeals.