India, Oct. 20 -- The Supreme Court has ruled that temple property is held for the deity and cannot be usurped by the government, "whatever its label or ostensible public purpose", underscoring that every decision concerning the properties of a religious

or charitable institution must be guided solely by the trust's best interests and never by the government's administrative convenience.

"The State, as custodian, cannot unilaterally usurp, nor permit any of its officers to usurp, the property of the religious/charitable institutions it is charged to protect," a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said in a judgment delivered on October 16.

The court made it clear that the State's power to regulate temple administration does ...