Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 5: The Supreme Court on Friday firmly ruled that money belonging to temples must be preserved exclusively for the deity and cannot be diverted to support financially distressed cooperative banks. The observation came from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, while dismissing special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by Kerala-based cooperative banks.

These banks had challenged a Kerala High Court directive ordering them to immediately return the fixed deposits held by the Thirunelly Temple Devaswom. Upholding the High Court’s order, the apex court made it clear that donations collected from devotees must be “saved, protected and utilised only for the interests of the temple” and cannot

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