SC refuses to entertain plea challenging Bodh Gaya Temple Act; asks petitioner to move HC

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the vires of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act, 1949, and asked the petitioner to approach the concerned high court.

The Mahabodhi temple complex in Bihar's Bodh Gaya, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the four holy areas related to the life of Lord Gautam Buddha. Bodh Gaya is a place where Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.

A plea challenging the vires of the 1949 Act came up for hearing before a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and K Vinod Chandran.


The bench asked the petitioner's counsel about the prayer sought in the plea.

"I (petitioner) have prayed that the Bodh Gaya Temple Act should be annulled as ultra vires," the counsel said.

The bench said the petitioner should approach the concerned high court.

"Why don't you do it before the high court?" the bench asked.

"We are not inclined to entertain the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. However, liberty is given to the petitioner to approach the high court," the bench said.

The 1949 Act pertains to the better management of the temple.

The Mahabodhi temple complex comprises a 50-metre high grand temple, the Vajrasana, the sacred Bodhi tree and six other sacred sites of Buddha's enlightenment, surrounded by numerous ancient votive stupas, well maintained and protected by inner, middle and outer circular boundaries.

A seventh sacred place, the Lotus Pond, is located outside the enclosure to the south. Both the temple area and the Lotus Pond are surrounded by circulating passages at two or three levels, and the area of the ensemble is 5 metres below the level of the surrounding land.

In April this year, Rashtriya Lok Morcha supremo and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha demanded an amendment in the provisions of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act, 1949, so that the management of the Mahabodhi Mahavihara Temple can be handed over to the Buddhists.