New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Friday decided to temporarily suspend the Uttar Pradesh government’s 2025 Shri Bankey Bihari Temple Trust Ordinance, which had effectively assumed control of the temple’s management at Mathura-Vrindavan. The Court agreed to transfer the related petitions challenging the ordinance to the Allahabad High Court for further adjudication.

Until the court’s final decision on the ordinance’s validity, a committee chaired by a retired High Court judge will oversee temple affairs. The court indicated that this interim panel may include the District Collector, other state officials, and representatives from the Haridasi Sampraday.

The Supreme Court stated it would publish a detailed order by Saturday addressing multiple petitions challenging the state’s move to take over temple administration, which historically followed a private management framework under a 1939 scheme. It also signaled that it would review its May 15 judgment permitting the use of temple funds for a corridor development project.

During earlier proceedings, the bench criticized the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh government sought approval to use temple funds, describing it as “clandestine.” It emphasized that temple rituals must continue according to Haridasi traditions and questioned the haste with which the 2025 Ordinance was enacted.

Pleadings argued that the Ordinance represents state interference in religious matters, undermining the autonomy of the temple’s current management committee. One advocate contended that the provisions of the Ordinance infringe on Haridasi/Sakhi Sampraday’s right to manage its religious affairs and to practice and propagate its religion without alterations to fundamental rites and traditions.

The plea argued that sections of the Ordinance improperly vest administration in a secular authority, stripping the religious denomination of its governance and turning the temple into a body it cannot recognize as either public property or a state-backed trust.