The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking the formation of a judicial commission or expert committee to review the wages and service conditions of priests, sevadars and temple staff working in state-controlled temples across the country.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing the plea filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

During the hearing, the Bench made it clear that it was not inclined to interfere in the matter. The judges orally remarked, “Mandiron ke pujari ke chakkar mein mat padiye. Aapko pata hai pujari kitna paisa kamate hai? We are not entertaining this.”

Upadhyay referred to observations made by the Allahabad High Court regarding minimum wages for temple staff and argued that priests and workers in state-controlled temples should be able to live with dignity. He also contended that while many temples are under government control, similar systems do not exist for mosques or churches.

However, the Bench declined to examine the issue further. Upadhyay then requested permission to withdraw the petition and approach the appropriate authorities instead, which the Court allowed.

The petition had sought directions to the Centre and States to set up a commission to review salaries and declare priests and temple workers as “employees” under the Code on Wages, 2019. It argued that once the State takes administrative and financial control of temples, an employer-employee relationship is created, making labour welfare laws applicable.

The plea claimed that many priests and temple workers across States are not even paid minimum wages and are often dependent on donations or honorariums instead of fixed salaries. It also argued that the lack of fair wages, social security and proper service conditions violates their fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.