The Delhi high court has said that even the female members of the family of priests at the Kalkaji Temple were entitled to a share in the offerings collected during the festivals. The court rejected the contention of the petitioner that it was a traditional practice since time immemorial that only male descendants of the priests’ families were allowed a share in the offerings.
Dismissing a civil suit filed by one U.N. Bhardwaj, a priest at Kalkaji Temple, who had sought restrainment against this three sisters seeking a share in the collections through “seva bari” (turn), Justice S. Ravindra Bhat said that it would be anachronistic and regressive to affirm the plaintiff’s contention that the discriminatory practice of excluding female heirs from the benefits of property rights to which “baris” are attached, which appears to have existed all this while, should be continued. The court further said: “Such was not the mandate of law, such is not the mandate of law; such is not the custom or practice of any denomination, as claimed (by the petitioner).”
The court termed as “discriminatory” the practice to allow only male members of the priests’ families to have a right over the offerings.
The court rejected the contention of the petitioner that male descendants being entitled to the proceeds to bid for the “bari” (turn), since they perform puja and other rituals in the temple, while the daughters were not entitled to get any share except `1 lakh, as fixed by the high court in 2006, from the total collection of offerings. The court also dismissed the contention of the priest that the married daughters belonged to different gotra and the right to perform “puja seva” was not transferable to them.
Bhardwaj had claimed that his turn to conduct puja during festivals comes after two years through bidding and the highest bidder gets the right to collect all the offerings.