New Delhi- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the money offered by devotees was not meant for the construction of marriage halls as it refused to stay an order which said temple funds couldn't be treated as public or government funds.

The order of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had quashed the government orders allowing the construction of marriage halls with funds belonging to five temples at different locations in Tamil Nadu.

In its August 19 order, the high court held the government's decision to construct marriage halls for rental purposes by giving them for wedding functions wasn't within the definition of“religious purposes”.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the pleas challenging the high court decision and said,“Devotees do not offer their money to the temple for the purpose of setting up these marriage halls. It may be for the improvement of temple.”

The bench went on to ask,“If there is a marriage party going on in a temple premises and all kinds of vulgar songs are played, is that the purpose of a temple land?”

The top court instead suggested such money to be utilised for charitable purposes such as education and towards medical institutions.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and other lawyers were representing the petitioners.

The bench noted the issue was whether the decision taken by the government was right or wrong.

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