Supreme Court Sets Aside Allahabad High Court Order Directing Possession of Temple to Gram Sabha; Directs Civil Suit to be Decided Within Six Months

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih heard appeals challenging two orders of the Allahabad High Court that had directed the District Magistrate and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Aligarh to implement an order dated 18.09.2007 and to hand over possession of temple premises to the Gram Sabha. The appeals arose from a long-running management dispute over a temple in Aligarh, with rival committees and parallel civil and executive proceedings.

The Court allowed the appeals, set aside the impugned High Court orders dated 30.05.2023 and 10.05.2024, and directed the learned Additional Civil Judge, Senior Division, Aligarh to dispose of Original Suit No.623 of 2012 within six months. The judgment recorded that the High Court had acted without properly referring to orders of the competent civil court and to reports indicating the pendency of civil proceedings. The Court emphasised procedural regularity and the need to follow statutory mandates where the procedure was prescribed. The Court, in its reasoning, observed: “Apart from that it is a settled law that when a law requires a particular thing to be done in a particular manner, it has to be done in that manner alone or not at all. When a legal proceeding to be filed by the Gram Sabha is to be filed only on the resolution of the Gram Sabha, the petition at the instance of Respondent No.5/Manju Devi, without there being a resolution of the Gram Sabha was not tenable at the instance of the Gram Sabha. If the High Court wanted to treat the same as a public interest litigation at the instance of Respondent No.5/Manju Devi in her individual capacity then the High Court ought to have taken into consideration as to whether the public interest litigation should have been entertained in a private lis or not.” The Court also found that “the approach of the High Court [was] totally untenable” for failing to refer to the appellate court order and official reports.

Background The dispute concerned management and possession of the Shri Khereshwar Mahadev Va Dauji Maharaj temple, managed by the appellant committee. Original Suit No.623 of 2012 was pending in the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Aligarh; an application for temporary injunction by the appellant had been rejected at first instance but its misc. civil appeal (Misc. Civil Appeal No.51 of 2014) was allowed by the Additional District Judge by order dated 06.04.2019, which set aside the lower court order and directed that the parties maintain status quo pending disposal of the 7-C application, and sent the matter back for fresh disposal within four months.

Respondent No.5 (Manju Devi), the Gram Pradhan of Hardaspur, sought implementation of a 2007 Sub-Divisional Magistrate order purportedly vesting the temple in the Gaon Sabha; she filed an application before the District Magistrate. The Tehsildar/SDM reported that civil suit proceedings were pending and that no further executive action was possible. Despite these records, the Allahabad High Court by order dated 30.05.2023 directed the District Magistrate and SDM to implement the 2007 order and hand over possession to the respondents. The appellant contended that the High Court passed the order without hearing and without taking note of the appellate court order and the Tehsildar’s report. After this Court allowed a withdrawal with liberty, a recall application filed before the High Court was rejected on 10.05.2024, leading to these appeals.

The Supreme Court held that the High Court should have considered the Additional District Judge’s order and the official report and that where statute or municipal procedure required a resolution of the Gram Sabha (referencing paragraph 128 of the Gram Sabha Manual), that requirement could not be bypassed. The Supreme Court therefore set aside the impugned orders, allowed the appeals, directed impleadment of the Gram Sabha as a party defendant in the civil suit so all issues could be adjudicated, and ordered that the status quo directions of the Additional District Judge dated 06.04.2019 would continue until the civil suit was decided. The Court disposed of pending applications and granted no further interim relief beyond the status quo and the timeline for disposal.

Case Details: Case No.: 2025 INSC 362 (SLP(Crl) Nos.13258-13259/2024) Case Title: Shri Khereshwar Mahadev Va Dauji Maharaj Samiti, Aligarh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. Appearances: For the Petitioner(s): Shri Gagan Gupta, learned senior counsel For the Respondent(s): Shri Atul Parmar, learned counsel