Supreme Court on temple VIP entries: ‘Disapproves practice but won’t intervene’

“While we may be of the opinion that no special treatment be given with regard to entry to temples, we do not think it is a fit case to exercise jurisdiction under Article 32. We clarify that dismissal of the petition will not in any way bar the appropriate authorities from taking action as they require,” said the court.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner, Vijay Kishor Goswami, contended that the special treatment to VIPs for darshan in temples is arbitrary and violates the principles of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. He said standard operating procedures (SoP) should be formulated so that all have equal opportunity.

When he submitted that the lack of SoPs was also leading to unfortunate mishaps like stampedes, the bench said that the petitioner’s concern appears to be about law and order and the plea should have been specific on that.

The counsel pointed out that religious tourism is more than 50 percent in the country’s total tourism sector, and added that special darshan facilities are now followed in the 12 jyotirlingas and all shaktipeeths.

The plea contended that temples charging a fee from devotees to have closer darshan is discriminatory towards the multitude of devotees who do not have the financial resources to pay VIP entry charges.

The petitioner said that he had given many representations to the Ministry of Home Affairs on this but the ministry has only issued a limited directive to Andhra Pradesh, leaving out states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which see significant pilgrim footfall.

The court, however, said it was a policy matter for the government to act upon.