Bengaluru, May 16 -- The Supreme Court on Friday decreed that the famous ISKCON Hare Krishna Hill temple in Bangalore belongs to the ISKCON-Bangalore society and not the ISKCON-Mumbai society.

According to an official release, the long-standing dispute between ISKCON-Bangalore and ISKCON-Mumbai began after Srila Prabhupada attained Maha Samadhi in 1977, when some ISKCON leaders claimed to be his successors, contrary to his directive establishing a Ritvik initiation system.

ISKCON-Bangalore, led by Madhu Pandit Dasa, upheld Srila Prabhupada as the sole Acharya and resisted pressure to conform to the self-appointed guru system.

In 2000, ISKCON-Mumbai attempted to take control of the Bangalore temple, despite the land being allotted to IS...