By Sanjay Sharma, IANS
Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh government is going to bring a bill to help manage temples in the state, prevent encroachment on their land and enable the constitution of a Dharmacharya Parishad (council of priests).
"The Devasthan Bill, all set to be tabled in the ensuing assembly session, would enable constitution of the Dharmacharya Parishad which would see that the temples and the government land allotted to them are managed properly," the state's Minister for Revenue and Religious Endowment Kamal Patel told IANS Thursday.
The council would either be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, high court or a senior sadhu.
"All the government-aided temples and big temple trusts would be brought under the purview of the Devasthan Act", Patel said.
The bill, he said, has become necessary following the increasing number of disputes relating to temple property and complaints of encroachment on vast tracts of temple land.
Madhya Pradesh, according to an estimate, has more than 30,000 government recognized temples and over 100,000 acres of land assigned to them.
"Things have reached such a pass that even residential colonies have come up at several places on land allotted to temple trusts," the minister said.
Besides managing the temple trusts and properties, the act – when it comes into force – would also facilitate the recruitment and welfare of priests on the lines of the Devaswom Board of Kerala to meet the shortage of priests for performing different rituals.
The Dharmacharya Parishad would select the priests from different Sanskrit schools and other like institutions and also decide on their remuneration. The priests are getting a meagre amount of only Rs.300 to 500 per month now, he added.