Sabarimala board won’t file report in SC over tense situation at shrine
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Lord Ayyappa temple, Wednesday decide against filing a report in the Supreme Court on the situation prevailing in Sabarimala after the top court allowed women of all age groups to enter the hill shrine.
The board also said filing a review petition against the top court verdict right now has no relevance.
The Travancore Devaswom Board member K P Sankara Das said the board would file a report only if the apex court asked for it.
The board had earlier said it would file a report in the top court on the tense situation in Sabarimala.
With regard to the review petition, he said the board would reply if the Supreme Court sought its views while considering the review petitions pending on the Sabarimala issue.
“There is no relevance of a review petition by the TDB now,” he said.
Hearing on the 19 petitions challenging the apex court verdict has been posted for November13. The board’s move comes a day after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asserted that the state government was not in favour of
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
filing a review petition and was for going ahead with implementing the apex court verdict on entry of women of all ages into the temple.
Vijayan had also criticised the temple head priest and Pandalam royal family, associated with the Sabarimala temple, on Tuesday. He took exception to head priest Rajeevaru’s remark that he would close the temple if women were allowed to enter.
Vijayan also asked the TDB to take action against the priest and sub-priest of the Sabarimala temple who joined the protest of Ayyappa devotees opposing the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into the shrine.
Last week, the TDB had decided to approach the Supreme Court and submit a report on the situation following protests by Ayyappa devotees in the state after the LDF government decided to implement the apex court order.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has decided to sanction ~142 crore for implementing various schemes under the Sabarimala Masterplan development project, Vijayan said.
The amount would be routed through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, Vijayan said in a Facebook post. Besides, ~200 crore has already been sanctioned for repair and maintenance of roads leading to Sabarimala, he said.