Iskcon Bengaluru owns Hare Krishna temple, says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that ISKCON Bangalore was the rightful owner of the iconic Hare Krishna temple in Bengaluru, ending a 24-year-old legal dispute with ISKCON Mumbai
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that ISKCON Bangalore was the rightful owner of the iconic Hare Krishna temple in Bengaluru, ending a 24-year-old legal dispute with ISKCON Mumbai over the ownership and control of the temple and its associated property.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih allowed ISKCON Bangalore’s appeal, setting aside a 2011 judgment by the Karnataka high court that had ruled in favour of ISKCON Mumbai. The court said that ISKCON Bangalore is an independent legal entity and that the society cannot be treated as a branch of ISKCON Mumbai.
ISKCON Mumbai was founded in 1966 by Srila Prabhupada and is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. It claimed that ISKCON Bangalore, registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act in July 1978, was its branch and that the temple property belonged to the Mumbai society.
In 2001, ISKCON Bangalore filed a suit seeking declarations that it was the absolute owner of the property in question, that ISKCON Mumbai had no authority over its affairs, and that Mumbai-based office bearers be permanently restrained from interfering.
In 2009, the trial court ruled in favour of ISKCON Bangalore, recognising its ownership and granted it a permanent injunction against ISKCON Mumbai. The court also dismissed ISKCON Mumbai’s claim that Bangalore was merely a branch office and that the Mumbai society had rights over both properties.
However, in 2011, the Karnataka high court reversed the trial court’s decision, holding that ISKCON Bangalore was a branch of ISKCON Mumbai and that the temple property belonged to the latter.
The Supreme Court’s verdict restores the decree passed by the trial court and affirms ISKCON Bangalore’s independent status. ISKCON Bangalore hailed the court’s judgment. “In essence, ISKCON Mumbai has been injuncted from interfering with the management of ISKCON Bengaluru. They can no longer expel from ISKCON, thousands of devotees who want to accept only Srila Prabhupada as the sole Acharya of ISKCON,” Madhu Pandit Dasa, president of ISKCON Bangalore, said in a statement.
