NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine after eight weeks a plea by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay for allowing Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others to manage their own religious places and properties attached to them like Muslims and Christians.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli asked the parties including the Centre and States to clarify their stand, by completing the pleadings in the matter by then.
On September 1, hearing the matter, the Supreme Court's separate bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat has sought to know proof of mismanagement of temples being controlled and run by the governments.
According to the petitioners, different state governments have passed respective laws to take control over temples of Hindus and thus have become recipient of hundreds of crore worth of offerings annually and owner of thousands of crores of properties including the vacant land, attached to such establishments.
The Waqf Act 1995, however, gave uncontrolled power to the Waqf Board over the properties, making it third largest holder of lands in the country after Indian Railways and defence, while religious endowment laws allowed the state authorities to take full control over Hindu and other religious institutions.
On Monday, a separate bench of Justices Chandrachud and Kohli decided to examine the matter.
