Kerala High Court Quashes Devaswom Board Order Permitting Use Of Temple Premises For 'Nava Kerala Sadas'

The Kerala High Court has quashed an order issued by the Travancore Devaswom Board which permitted the conduct of 'Nava Kerala Sadas' on Chakkuvally Prabrahma Temple premises. 

The Division Bench comprising Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice G. Girish passed the order on a plea filed by two devotees of the temple alleging blatant violation of provisions of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, and judgments of the Apex Court and High Court by which the temple property was being misused to conduct Nava Kerala Sadas. 

'Nava Kerala Sadas' programme is an outreach program of the Government, which envisages direct interaction of top officials with the people and redressal of their grievances.  

The Bench observed that the Board had not properly considered the statutory provisions or the law laid down by the Courts while granting permission to conduct the programme in the temple premises. 

The petitioners averred in their plea that the temple ground was being taken over and the compound wall of the temple property was also proposed to be demolished to allow entry of the bus carrying the State Cabinet. The petitioners submitted that the temple ground was "inexplicably connected with the beliefs associated with the temple and forms part of it". 

They stated that the conduct of the program on temple premises during puja time would hinder the entry and exit of temple worshippers and prevent them from praying at the temple and that the Board was vested with the statutory duty to preserve the rights and assets of the deity and facilitate peaceful worship by believers, which in the present case was sought to be violated. 

The petitioners added that Nava Kerala Sadas had no connection with the rituals, customs and activities of the temple. 

"The sheer magnitude of the event and the restrictions of movement put in place by the Police will cripple the activities of temple and preventing the peaceful worship of devotees. This event through touted as a public outreach program is a thinly veiled political stunt with all venues used to spew political statements and canvass votes for the party in power. Such a political program has no place in a temple which is a place of worship," the plea states, adding that the Travancore Devaswom Board was facilitating illegal interference in temple affairs by refusing to act. 

It is against this backdrop that the Court issued the present Order. 

The plea was moved through Advocates Vishnu Jayapalan, and Sajith Kumar V. 

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 735

Case Title: Jayakumar J. & Anr. v. State of Kerala & Ors. 

Case Number: WP(C) 41819 of 2023