JUDGMENT :

Ramesh Ranganathan, J.

The Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019 (for short the “2019 Act”) is the latest, in a long line of enactments, made by various States all over the country, both before and after the advent of the Constitution, entrusting management of Hindu temples to a Board whose Chairman and members are, by and large, nominated by the State Government. The statement of objects and reasons for introducing the 2019 Bill records the need to make legal provisions, for temples and devasthanams located in Uttarakhand, similar to Shri Vaishno Devi Mata Temple, the Sai Baba, the Puri Jagannath and Somnath temples.

2. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi temple, in Jammu & Kashmir, is under the management and supervision of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board constituted under the J&K Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Act, 1988. Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri is under the control of a temple management committee constituted under the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955. A challenge to its constitutional validity, on the touch-stone of Article 26-(d) of the Constitution of India, was rejected by the Orissa High Court in Ram Chandra Deb v. State of Orissa AIR 1959 Ori 5, and the judgment of the Orissa High Court was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Raja Bira Kishore Deb v. State of Orissa AIR 1964 SC 1501. The Somnath temple is managed by the board of a religious and charitable trust registered under the Gujarat Public Trust Act, 1950, and the Shri Shirdi Sai Baba temple is managed by the board of the Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan Trust which is registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.

3. Other than the above, the Lord Venkateshwara temple (popularly known as Tirupati Balaji temple) is also administered by a board, constituted under the A.P. Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act, 1987 called the TTD Board consisting of a Chairman and members who are nominated by the State Government. The constitutional validity of this Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in A.S. Narayan Deekshitulu v. State of A.P & others, (1996) 9 SCC 548. The renowned Ramanatha Swamy temple at Rameshwaram, and the Meenakshi Amman temple at Madurai, both in the State of Tamil Nadu, are under the management and control of a board constituted under the Tamilnadu (hitherto Madras) Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959. The Shrinathji temple at Nathdwara, Rajasthan is also under the control and management of a board constituted under the Nathdwara Temple Act, 1959, the constitutional validity of which was upheld by the Supreme Court in Tilkayat Shri Govindlalji Maharaj v. State of Rajasthan and Ors., AIR 1963 SC 1638.

4. The Mahakaleshwar temple at Ujjain is in the control of a managing committee constituted under the Madhya Pradesh Shri Mahakaleshwar Act, 1982, and the Guruvayoor temple in Kerala is under the control of the Travancore Devaswom Board constituted under the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. The Kashi Vishwanath temple at Banaras is under the management of a board constituted under the U.P. Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983. The validity of the 1983 Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in Sri Adi Visheshwara of Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors., (1997) 4 SCC 606. Two of the Chardham temples in Uttarakhand, i.e. Shri Badrinath and Shri Kedarnath temples, were, prior to the 2019 Act coming into force, under the control and management of a managing committee constituted under the U.P. Shri Badrinath and Shri Kedarnath Temples Act, 1939 which continued to remain in force till it was repealed by the 2019 Act.

5. Dr. Subramanian Swamy seeks to draw a distinction between the Somanth, Shirdi Sai Baba and Vaishno Devi temples on the one hand, and the temples brought within the ambit of the 2019 Act on the other, contending that, while the former are individual temples, the latter covers a large number of temples. It is necessary, in this context, to n