Kalkaji temple priest to pay ₹6L from month’s offerings to sisters

NEW DELHI: A priest who had moved the Delhi High Court seeking to debar his two sisters from performing pooja at Sri Kalkaji temple here and claiming a share in the offerings, has agreed to a temporary arrangement to pay ₹6 lakh each to them from offerings collected during the puja sewa from February 7 to March 7.

Earlier, a local court had allowed the sisters’ plea to perform pooja in the temple and to realise the income from offerings for the 30 days period.

This was challenged by the priest through advocate BL Wali, who said that as per prevalent customs, pooja and sewa at the temple are being performed by the male lineal descendants and not by married daughters.

The priest had contended that after marriage, his sisters did not remain members of their father’s family and that they belonged to the ‘gotra’ of their respective husbands.

Justice JR Midha on Friday agreed to the interim arrangement between the priest and his sisters but expressed displeas- ure at the way the temple was managing the rush of people.

“There is only a fraction of a second for a person to view the deity. Within that time, there should be no obstruction between devotees and God. But here, the fraction of a second is not unobstructed. I go to that temple too,” the judge said.

As the arrangement of darshan is looked after by Kalkaji police station, the court directed the SHO, along with the counsel appearing for the priest, to visit Jhandewalan temple to suggest “systematic” darshan to the devotees.