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The Guruvayoor Devaswom Act, 1971, Act 6 of 1971 was framed after the Government established a Commission to enquire into the cause of the fire, which destroyed the temple in 1970. The validity of the Act was challenged before the Kerala High Court by the hereditary trustees in O.P. No. 812 of 1971, claiming infringement of their fundamental rights under Articles 19, 25 and 26 of Constitution of India. A Full Bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed the said writ petition. The Act was thereafter amended by Act 12 of 1972, which again came to be challenged in O.P. No. 314 of 1973 in a writ petition filed on behalf of the denomination of the temple. A Bench of Five Judges of the Kerala High Court struck down the said Amending Act in Krishnan Vs. Guruvayoor Devaswom Managing Committee [since reported in 1979 KLT 350]. The Governor of Kerala promulgated an ordinance known as Guruvayur Devaswom Ordinance, No. 25 of 1977.

From its provisions it is clear that the Act has ensured that only persons who believe in temple worship are to be in the management of the temple. The Act has further ensured that none except the Thanthri gets any voice in the spiritual administration of the temple and that his voice alone will prevail in such matters. The practice of religion by the denomination including customs, practices and rituals is, therefore, preserved in its entirety and there is no tampering therewith in any manner whatsoever.

Furthermore, it is permissible for a legislature to take over the management of the temple from the control of a person and vest the same in a Committee of which he would remain the Chairman. [See Raja Bira Kishore Deb, hereditary Superintendent, Jagannath Temple, P.O. and District Puri Vs. The State of Orissa, AIR 1964 SC 1501] It is also now trite that although State cannot interfere with the freedom of a person to profess, practise and propagate his religion, the secular matters connected therewith can be the subject matter of control by the State. The management of the temple primarily is a secular act. The temple authority controls the activities of various servants of the temple. It manages several institutions including educational institutions pertaining to it. The disciplinary power over the servants of the temple, including the priest may vest in a committee. The payment of remuneration to the temple servants was also not a religious act but was of purely secular in nature. [See Shri Jagannath Temple Puri Management Committee represented through its Administrator and Another Vs. Chintamani Khuntia and Others, (1997) 8 SCC 422, Pannalal Bansilal Pitti and Others Vs. State of A.P. and Another, (1996) 2 SCC 498 and Bhuri Nath and Others Vs. State of J&K and Others, (1997) 2 SCC 745].

The Court rightly proceeded on the basis that the function of the court is to apply the law as it stands. It is whilst analyzing the provisions of the Act and the Rules, the Bench referred to the dictionary meaning of temple and observed:

"So only persons who have faith in God or in temple worship, will be taken in by the word "Hindu", occurring in Act XV of 1950. It is implicit that only such of those who have faith in God and in temple worship, will be aware of its efficacy, necessity and importance and can be entrusted with the administration, supervision and control of the Devaswoms and other Hindu Religious Endowments. However wide the meaning of the word 'Hindu' may be under the general law, under Act XV of 1950, only those Hindus who believe in God and in temple worship, will fulfill the requirement of the word 'Hindu' occurring in the Act. Our conclusion aforesaid necessarily flows from the title and preamble of the Act as also the definition contained in S.2(b) of the Act"