Painful to find that temples not getting dues from UP govt: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court (HC) has said it is "painful" that temples and trusts have to knock on the doors of the court to get their dues released from the Uttar Pradesh government.

A petition in the Allahabad HC said the annuity of nine temples in Vrindavan town of Uttar Pradesh had been withheld for the last four years by the district magistrate and senior treasury officer, Mathura.

The bench of justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal was hearing a petition filed by Thakur Rangji Maharaj Virajman Mandir, a temple built in 1851, seeking the court's intervention to get its payment of the annuity under section 99 of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition (UPZA) and Land Reforms (LR) Act.

The petitioner told the court that the annuity amounting to Rs 9,125,07 had not been released to nine temples citing a lack of permission from the board of revenue. However, the government submitted that Rs 2,23,199 had been paid and now a balance of Rs 6,89,308 remained.

The commissioner/secretary of the board, in a personal affidavit, told the court that a fund of more than Rs 6 lakh could not be released to the temples owing to a paucity of funds.

"This court is pained to note that temples and trusts have to knock the doors of the Court for getting their dues released from the state government, which should have automatically flowed from the treasury of the state into the account of temples," the court noted.

The court further said that from perusal of the personal affidavit of Commissioner/Secretary, Board of Revenue, it transpired that no effort had been made by the officer concerned for the last four years for getting the annuity transferred into the account of the temples.

"The temple authorities are running from pillar to post for getting their dues released from these government officials, which is strange," the court added, while issuing summons to the Secretary of the Board of Revenue for an explanation.

The court also noted that a letter written by the Mathura district magistrate to the special secretary, Uttar Pradesh government, is an indicator to the effect that the official sitting in the state capital does "not care for the release of annuities to the trusts and temples".