Judicial Intervention Sought for Fair Wages in State-Controlled Temples

A plea to the Supreme Court demands the formation of a judicial commission or expert committee to evaluate wages and benefits for priests and staff in state-controlled temples. This comes after reports of substandard wages and protests by temple workers seeking minimum compensation for their services.

The Supreme Court is set to examine a petition on Monday pushing for a judicial commission or expert committee to review the remuneration and benefits allocated to priests and temple personnel in state-run temples.

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, through Ashwani Dubey, filed the Public Interest Litigation, highlighting the inadequate wages and lack of benefits provided to these workers, drawing attention to their rights under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019.

Amid recent protests by temple employees in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over subpar wages, the petitioner urged that the administrative control over temples by the state warrants an employer-employee dynamic, thereby justifying the plea for judicial scrutiny.