'Over-Crowding In Guruvayur Temple Is A Civic Challenge': Kerala High Court Orders Formation Of Multi-Departmental Committee

The Kerala High Court yesterday (November 21) passed a detailed judgment outlining comprehensive guidelines for managing the high number of pilgrims that visit the Sreekrishna Temple, Guruvayur every day.The Division Bench consisting of Justice Raja Raghavan and Justice K.V. Jayakumar also ordered the formation of a permanent, 7-member multi-departmental Committee including the District Collector, Superintendent of Police, District Medical Officer, Devaswom Managing Committee member, Secretary of Guruvayur Municipality, Pollution Control Board Environmental Engineer, and Suchitwa Mission Co-ordinator.The Court was seized of three pleas preferred by devotees of the temple seeking to bring back the online queue system, construct a queue complex and other amenities in order to manage the rush of pilgrims.According to the Guruyavur Devaswom Board, the reason to do away with the online queue systems was that the hybrid system for darshan proved to be difficult to manage because of the unpredictable time of the poojas, high influx of devotes and even altercations between pilgrims who booked through online and offline modes.Looking into the provisions of the Guruvayoor Devaswom Act, 1978 the Court remarked the Managing Committee of the Devaswom has a duty to provide adequate facilities to the devotees and to protect their interests.The Court was of the opinion that rather than thinking of managing the queue, the inclination should be towards avoiding queues. For this, it was imperative to conduct a scientific assessment to ascertain the maximum number of devotees that the temple can safely accommodate.The Court also felt that devotees can be categorised into different groups to enable staggered darshan.It further opined that the lack of coordination among the government departments is another issue that needs to be immediately addressed to facilitate peaceful temple visits. It had observed:“As the number of pilgrims increases daily, overcrowding in Guruvayoor has become a municipal-level civic challenge, not merely a temple-management problem. While the influx brings economic growth, it also raises concerns regarding sanitation, health, environment, traffic regulation, and law and order.”The Court then proceeded to give a 12-point directive for effective crowd management. This included fixation of a single-entry point and single-exit point, development of a mobile application to give pilgrim real-time updates, improved staff training, etc.The need for providing basic amenities including drinking water, seats, fans and light refreshment was also highlighted in addition to special facilities for senior citizens, feeding mothers, and children.The Court particularly emphasised on its earlier decision in Suo Motu v. State of Kerala and Ors., wherein it had issued directions to the four Devaswom Boards in the State to facilitate temple darshan for persons with disabilities.Additionally, the Court asked the Devaswom Managing Committee to place within 2 months a comprehensive action plan, after consultation with the various stakeholders. With these directives, it disposed of the pleas.Case No: WP (C) Nos. 41543/2024 and connected casesCase Title: P.N. Radhakrishnan v. State of Kerala and Ors. and connected casesCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 760Counsel for the petitioners: P.N. Damodaran Namboodiri, Hrithwik D. Namboothiri, Varada K. Hari, Lekha Suresh (Party-In-Person), K.Mohanakannan, Adarsh Mohan K.Counsel for the respondents: Vipin Das – SC – Guruvayur Devaswom Click to Read/Download Judgment

'Over-Crowding In Guruvayur Temple Is A Civic Challenge': Kerala High Court Orders Formation Of Multi-Departmental Committee

K. Salma Jennath

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