Orchha: The Income Tax Department has issued a notice to Shri Ram Raja Temple in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. The Income Tax Department has sought an explanation of cash deposits of Rs 1,22,55,572 for the financial year 2015-16. The notice pointed out that the temple had not filed IT returns for the assessment year 2016–17, even after carrying out financial transactions. A news channel shared this notice on its official Twitter account on April 18, 2023. Wrote with it, "Mohammed Irfan has sent a notice to Sri Ramaraja Temple. It has been told that this account contains 1 crore and 22 lakh rupees. Orchha's Shriram Raja Temple is official and free from income tax, but Income Tax Department officer Mohammad Irfan is not ready to accept it. ISKCON Vice President Radharaman Das also shared this notice on his Twitter account today. They wrote, "Mohammed Irfan, an officer of the Income Tax Department, has sent a notice to pay tax on the donation of Rs 1 crore, 22 lakhs received by the Shri Ram Temple of Orchha as income. Although this temple is government-owned and does not come under the purview of the Income Tax Department, he is misusing his position."
The same thing is being discussed about whether the temple should be asked to pay the tax or not; the law is clear in this matter. First of all, it is necessary to understand how gods and goddesses are represented in law. According to the law, deities are litigants like ordinary people. They are called judicial institutions. The law recognises two types of persons: human beings and artificially created persons, also known as juridical persons. In the case of an artificially created person, the identity is used for companies, trusts, societies, private businesses, and companies. It is noteworthy that the courts have declared the entire animal kingdom a 'legal entity'. If we look at the July 2018 judgement of the Uttarakhand High Court,
Especially when it comes to Hindu gods and goddesses, their recognition as individuals dates back to the time of the British. In 1887, the gods and goddesses were recognised as persons through a friend, shebait, and manager, and it was mentioned that they too had rights. The Privy Council of that time had ruled in the Dakor Temple case that "an idol of Hindu gods and goddesses is a judicial subject, and the sacred idea it embodies is given the status of a juristic person." Not only the deities but even the rivers have been considered persons of authority. The Supreme Court in the 2000 case of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee v. Somnath Das and others said, "The word juristic person itself connotes the recognition of a person as being in law, which would not otherwise be the case. In other words, it is not an individual, natural person, but an artificially created person who is to be recognised in law. Gods, corporations, rivers, and animals have all been treated as juristic persons by the courts. In matters relating to Lord Shri Krishna, Lord Ayyappa, and Rama Lalla, Hindu deities, the person to be represented by an executor, shabite, or guardian has been recognised in the Court. However, this does not mean that all the statues can be considered as one person. Only those images that have been publicly installed, or consecrated, acquire authority as a juridical entity. The distinction between non-unit and unit was mentioned by the Supreme Court in its 1969 judgement. The court said, "All idols will not qualify to be 'judicial persons.
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