New Delhi, May 18 The Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the high-powered committee overseeing the functioning of Thakur Shree Bankey Bihari Ji Maharaj Temple in Vrindavan, noting that a plea has made "serious allegations" against it, including changing of darshan timings and suspension of the traditional Dehri Pooja.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the plea filed by the temple 'sevayats' through senior advocate Shyam Divan and lawyer Tanvi Dubey, who alleged that the High-Powered Committee (HPC) interfered with essential religious practices.
The bench granted a week's time to the court-appointed HPC to file its response and listed the main plea and the miscellaneous application for hearing on May 26.
"There are some serious allegations against the committee, which we want to examine," the CJI said.
The bench was dealing with pleas of the Management Committee of Thakur Shree Bankey Bihari ji Maharaj Temple, represented by lawyer Dubey.
The petitioners raised concerns on the HPC's interpretation of wide powers, while passing certain orders "touching upon the essential religious rituals of the temple, including change in darshan timing, closing Dehri pooja, exorbitant charges imposed on Sevayat Goswami's charging for phool bangla service, et cetera".
Emphasising the unique and sacrosanct nature of the shrine, the petitioners argued that the morning and evening "darshan" timings were rooted in centuries-old traditions.
"The temple has historically followed strict seasonal timings and distinct schedules for summer and winter, which were closely intertwined with internal rituals, including the waking and resting of the deity," the petitioners' lawyer said.
Changes introduced through office memoranda in September 2025 disrupted these essential religious practices and altered the temple's traditional system of worship, he argued.
The petitioners further contended that discontinuation of the age-old "Dehri Pooja" -- performed exclusively by Goswamis as part of the Guru-Shishya parampara -- was unjustified.
The plea said the ritual was conducted when the temple remained closed to the public and therefore posed no crowd management concerns.
The top court had earlier issued a notice on the petition on December 15, 2025, following which the HPC filed a status report. The petitioners subsequently filed their response to the report.
The matter assumes significance against the backdrop of an ongoing litigation over the Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025, which sought to replace the existing management structure with a State-controlled trust.
Earlier, while hearing the challenge to the ordinance, the apex court had stayed parts of the law and constituted a 12-member HPC headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Ashok Kumar to oversee the temple's day-to-day administration.
On April 13, the top court had clarified that the HPC was not inclined to make "any structural changes" to the existing religious practice arrangements at the temple.
At the previous hearing, the bench had also expressed concern over allowing affluent devotees to perform "special pujas" by paying hefty amounts, allegedly disturbing the deity's resting time.
"What they do is, after closing the temple at 12 noon, they do not allow the deity to rest even for a second and exploit the deity like anything," the CJI had orally observed during the December 15 hearing.
