The management
of the shrine is elitrusted to a head priest. The post of the head priest (Sardar Panda)
is held to be hereditary but he has to be over forty years of age. There had been some
important litigation’s involving tile high-priest and the other Pandas regarding the
control of the temple. In civil suit No. 18, of 1897, the Additional Judge of Burdwan
(the district was in Bengal at that time and under the jurisdiction of the Burdwan. court)
had dismissed the existing head Panda as unfit and disqualified him from holding the post
of Sardar Panda and trustee of the temple at Baidyanath.
The Additional Judge decreed that three persons be to be appointed to look after the
temple and its properties and for the proper administration of the same and the scheme
also set forth the duty of the Sardar Panda, who was to be a descen- dant, of Ram Dutt
Jha. This scheme in a broad sense is still functioning and the administration of the
temple is vested in a Council of Trustees, which includes the high-priest and other Pandas
as well as laymen.
