4 min readJul 20, 2026 05:15 PM IST
First published on: Jul 20, 2026 at 05:15 PM IST
The Vallabh Sampraday worships Lord Krishna as a joyous and playful deity, with Tilkayat ji as its supreme head. In the 1950s, there were controversies due to large-scale bungling in the properties of the sect’s main temple, one of the richest, in Nathdwara. Its takeover by the state was challenged without success before the Supreme Court, which negated the religious right claimed by Tilkayat ji to manage this temple and its assets, holding it to be a secular matter. The temple board, created by statute to manage its temporal affairs, except seva-puja and other matters of faith, is a unique blend of the spiritual lineage, state supervision and prominent devotees like the Ambanis. The Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya was built with state support but without any state oversight. The latter is an imperative, not as a panacea, but to ensure transparency, accountability and institutional integrity.
The movement for the temple at Ayodhya and its construction were a balm to Hindu sentiments hurt for centuries. What has now emerged is alleged loot from land deals, construction contracts and chadavas, which include large amounts of gold, silver and cash. Denials apart, there are several structural impediments to the full magnitude of the irregularities coming out in the public domain.
There is a fairly evolved legal framework to manage the spiritual, temporal and secular affairs of the thousands of religious places, small and large, in India. Our Constitution guarantees the “right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion” subject to public order, morality, and health. The state can make laws only to regulate secular activities and reform in religion. The guaranteed rights of denominations to establish and maintain religious institutions, manage their own affairs, own and administer properties are enunciated in a series of cases. There are a slew of temple boards, charity commissioners, or Devasthan departments that oversee the management of offerings and other secular activities, while religious aspects are governed by the religious denominations. Be it a dargah, gurdwara, math or any religious institution, this is the broad pattern. This module, with local variations, also serves the economies of towns, charitable and educational institutions, markets, hotels/rest houses, hospitals, restaurants, and several other activities around religious institutions.
For instance, the annual sale in public auction of the hair tonsured at the Tirupati temple comes to about 500 mt, valued at around Rs 200 crore. It has over 600 laddoo-makers protected by labour laws. The Guruvayur temple has regulations to shelter about 60 elephants gifted by devotees. About 1,00,000 people on weekdays and an even greater number on weekends partake in the langar at the Golden Temple. More than a million devotees of all faiths visit the dargah at Ajmer every year. Madurai and other temples in South India have cultural performances almost every day. All of this is managed by their respective statutory bodies.
Imagine all these activities with trustees, priests and managers having complete freedom with no guardrails put in place by the state. The Ram Mandir at Ayodhya suffers from a structural deficit, with or without a CEO. There are no reasons in the public domain why the formation of a private trust was directed, without a temple board. Does the state have no role in a temple with this scale of construction, inflow of devotees and donations? In a quest to save the larger faith in Ram, the alleged loot is being underplayed as a small con job by petty staff. The state cannot wish it away as an internal matter of a private trust. It must stem this rot to restore the hurt faith of millions.
The writer is a senior advocate
There is a fairly evolved legal framework to manage the spiritual, temporal and secular affairs of the thousands of religious places, small and large, in India. 
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