The report comes soon after the Jammu and Kashmir Government tabled the Hindu Shrine's Management Bill in the Assembly seeking to make an inventory of temple property. The Bill also seeks to constitute a Shrine Board at the state level and management committees in the districts for protection of temples. However, the Bill, introduced by the last Government, has not yet been passed due to the change of Government.

Law Secretary A H Kochak said while the Bill is likely to come up for discussion in the next Assembly session, the Government had the option of passing an ordinance in the interim to protect temples in the Valley.

However, Dr Ajay Chrungoo, chairman of Panun Kashmir, a frontal organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, said the state Government has been sitting on the law to protect temples for long. "The exercise to frame a law has been going on for the last more than six years," he said. A survey conducted by Panun Kashmir has revealed extensive damage to temple properties and encroachments across the Valley, he said, adding that "at many places government departments had even encroached on the temple property".