SC DECLINES EARLY HEARING OF SABARIMALA REVIEW PLEA

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused an urgent hearing on a plea seeking review of its verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the Sabarimala Temple.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph considered the submission of Shylaja Vijayan, president, National Ayyappa Devotees Association, and said the review will be listed in “due course.” The association was not a party in the original case that was decided by a constitution bench on September 28.

The lawyer appearing for the association also sought a stay on the verdict and said the temple would be opening on October 16, but the bench refused this and said the review petition is likely to be heard after the Dussehra break, which means it will be listed for consideration only after two weeks.

As per Supreme Court rules, a review petition is heard in chambers and not in the open. Besides the devotees association’s, four more petitions have been filed before court asking for a review of the judgement. All four petitioners argued before the fivejudge bench that faith cannot be judged by scientific or rationale reasons or logic.

Meanwhile, the ruling CPI(M) launched ‘vishidhikarnam’ (explanatory) meetings in Kerala to clear the air on the government’s stand on the issue and explain the steps taken by it to implement the Supreme Court verdict. The first meeting was inaugurated at Pandalam in Pathnamthitta district by CPI(M) central committee member P K Sreemathy, MP. Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government is with the believers and understood their sentiments. But “we will not allow anyone to unleash violence in the name of devotees.” HTC & AGENCIES