E-Paper
Guruvayur Devaswom’s donation may be philanthropic act: Supreme Court
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit, observed that the management committee’s decision may be by nature an ‘essentially philanthropic’ act, and wondered if an argument can be made that a temple’s fund can be used for the benefits of worshippers in the religious precincts
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered status quo on a Kerala high court judgment that declared as illegal a decision by the Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee (GDMC) to donate ₹5 crore to the chief minister’s distress relief fund soon after the Kerala floods in 2018.
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit, observed that the management committee’s decision may be by nature an “essentially philanthropic” act, and wondered if an argument can be made that a temple’s fund can be used for the benefits of worshippers in the religious precincts.
“Even the full court (of the high court) has said money can be used for a hospital which cannot only provide services to those coming to the temple. Why can’t be money used for educational institutions if you have excess money?” asked the bench, which included justices Ajay Rastogi and S Ravindra Bhat.
Senior advocate CA Sundaram, appearing for the temple management, said everyone had contributed to Kerala’s flood relief efforts at the time. “Even judges and lawyers had contributed to help,” he submitted.
The temple management had appealed against the 2020 high court judgment that held the contribution to the CM relief fund as “bad in law”, after a set of petitions oppose the move.
In its verdict, the high court had held that a comprehensive reading of the law empowers the GDMC to provide facilities to worshippers and pilgrims visiting the temple for darshan and other religious purposes. No other expenditure, not provided under the law, can be incurred by the committee, according to the scheme of the act.
