New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has stressed that the state government should draft a special law exclusively for Sabarimala within 4 weeks. The apex court also made a major remark that Sabarimala temple should not be connected to other temples while dealing with the case. Justice Ramana observed this while hearing the petition of Pandalam royal family.
Earlier, the government has decided to form a special board to administer all temples under Travancore Devaswom Board. Pandalam royal family approached the apex court against this move.
At the same time, Justice Ramana criticised the state government for not making any special law for Sabarimala. He also denounced the government’s proposal to include women members into the Travancore Devaswom Board administration committee.
“Two months ago, the state government has informed the apex court that a special law will be drafted for Sabarimala. But when the case was considered again today, the state government only submitted a draft of the law,” pointed out Justice Ramana.
The state government has submitted draft of Travancore-Kochi Hindu Religious Institutions Act 2019. In this draft, one-third of the seats in the TDB committee is reserved for women. The court criticised this proposal.
Hearing the petition, Justice Ramana asked the state government pleader not to compare Sabarimala with other temples in Kerala. He noted that over 50 lakh pilgrims are visiting Sabarimala annually.
Meanwhile, Adv G Prakash who appeared before the court for the state government informed the court that the government aims to ensure gender equality in the state.
“The government reserved one-third seats in TDB for administration of all temples under the board,” the lawyer justified before the court.
Justice Ramana questioned that how a female member of TDB can enter the temple if the seven-member bench quashes the Supreme court order allowing entry of women into Sabarimala.
Hearing the petition, Justice Ramana asked state government’s senior advocate Jaydeep Gupta to appear before the court to know further details of the draft.
