New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday remarked that temple funds “belong to the deity” and cannot be used to aid struggling cooperative banks. The observation came from a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, as it dismissed special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by Kerala-based cooperative banks challenging a Kerala High Court direction to immediately return the fixed deposits of the Thirunelly Temple Devaswom.

Refusing to interfere with the Kerala High Court’s orders, the CJI Kant-led Bench remarked that the money collected from devotees must be “saved, protected and utilised only for the interests of the temple” and cannot become a “source of income or survival” for any cooperative bank. “You want to use the temple money to save the bank?… Temple money, first of all, belongs to the deity,” observed the apex court, dismissing the cooperative bank’s SLP against the Kerala High Court’s directive to repay matured deposits and shift the funds to nationalised banks.

Before the Supreme Court, the cooperative banks argued that the Kerala High Court’s “abrupt” two-month deadline made compliance difficult. “You should establish your credibility among the people. If you are unable to attract the customers and deposits, that is your problem,” the CJI Kant-led Bench said, stressing that deposits must be released as soon as they mature. The apex court dismissed the petitions but granted liberty to the banks to move the Kerala High Court seeking an extension of time for repayment.

The SLPs were filed by Mananthawady Co-operative Urban Society Ltd and Thirunelly Service Co-operative Bank Ltd after the Kerala High Court held that temples under the Malabar Devaswom Board cannot keep deposits with cooperative societies in violation of binding circulars. In its detailed judgment, the Kerala HC noted that the Malabar Devaswom Board’s circulars clearly barred temples from keeping deposits in cooperative banks. After reviewing the audit findings, it held that the banks had “no right whatsoever” to deny closure of the deposits.

“If any of the temples under the control of the Malabar Devaswom Board have deposited funds in any Co-operative Society, such deposits shall be withdrawn upon maturity and re-deposited in the banks and financial institutions authorised,” had said a Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and K.V. Jayakumar.