Sabarimala order: Devaswom board can seek a review

The Travancore Devaswom Board can seek a review of the recent Supreme Court verdict throwing the door open to women of all ages by lifting the ban on entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 mainly on the ground that the judgment was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice.

The SC being the court of last resort has provided a mechanism under the Supreme Court Rules for filing a review petition, whether an order passed by this court should be corrected under its inherent powers on the ground that it was passed either without jurisdiction or in violation of the principles of natural justice or due to unfair procedure giving scope for bias which resulted in abuse of the process of the court or miscarriage of justice to an aggrieved person or a class of persons.

There is now a clamour for filing a review petition against the Sabarimala verdict. Leaders like Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, the BJP and even Devaswom Board are on the same page. Though the Kerala government is in favour of allowing entry of women of all ages, the board can seek a review.

A review is filed when the court has not considered all the grounds urged or has considered only few grounds leaving a few without any answer or the grounds are wrongly decided which has resulted in miscarriage of justice. The review plea, to be filed within 30 days, is decided in the Chamber of the presiding judge.