The event is organized by the advocates practicing in Chavakkad Court and conducted during Ekadashi festival in Guruvayur temple.

The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar, however, refused to ban the event.

“we find no justification to prohibit the conduct of the Vilakku or similar events. There is no material to indicate that the event is conducted in a manner inconsistent with constitutional or institutional principles, or that any Judicial Officer is required or compelled to participate in the programme. At the same time, we are of the view that the nomenclature "Kodathi Vilakku" may inadvertently create an impression of an institutional association or endorsement by the judiciary in relation to an event connected with a particular religious tradition. In the interest of maintaining the perception of institutional neutrality, it would be appropriate to consider whether a more suitable name may be adopted,” the Court held.

The Court was considering a suo motu petition registered on the basis of a complaint against the conduct of 'Kodathi Vilakku' in Guruvayur temple. In the complaint, it was stated that the event was banned back in 2022 by an Office Memorandum of the Court but it is still continuing.

It was also stated other events like 'Police Vilakku', 'Postal Vilakku', 'SBI Vilakku', 'Canara Bank Vilakku', and 'Dhanalakshmi Vilakku' should be banned in the temple since it would reduce the importance of 'Ekadashi Vrathham', which has to be observed with penance.

In its counter, the Devaswom Managing Committee had stated that the Chuttuvilakku practice was started long back in connection with the Ekadashi festival and, since there were few devotees and low income, the temple had to take financial support from affluent families, government, banks, post office, judicial institutions, etc.

The Committee further told that out of the 18 chuttuvilakku lit in the temple, one, named 'Munsiff Vilakku' was conducted by the lawyers of Munsiff Court, Chavakkad and another 'Magistrate Vilakku' by lawyers practicing in the Magistrate Court.

Since it became difficult to conduct these two, one came to be conducted by the Kerala Police as 'Police Vilakku' while the other was renamed as 'Kodathi Vilakku'. Moreover, it was stated that the event is conducted in a secular manner with no compulsion on judicial officers to participate.

The Sree Guruvaurappan Ekadashi Court Vilakku Celebration Committee submitted that Kodathi Vilakku is organized by collecting funds exclusively from the legal fraternity and that an endowment is created for the same as well as a corpus fund in the name of Munsiff, Chavakkad.

After hearing the parties and perusing the Office Memorandum as well as the Memorandum of the afore Celebration Committee, the Court opined that there is no need to ban the event but another name may be appropriate.

The Court thus disposed of the petition with a direction to the Devaswom Managing Committee to consider renaming the event after hearing the affected parties and to take a decision within 3 months.

Case No: DBP No. 124 of 2024

Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of Kerala and Ors.

Citation: 2026 Live Law (Ker) 418

Counsel for the respondents: Rajit, V.V. Joy, Sruthi Rajit, Ajaiy Baskar, Hemanth H., T.K. Vipindas

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