Sabarimala Overcrowding: Kerala High Court Extends Order Restricting Pilgrims' Entry Only With Valid Passes At Allotted Time Slots

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (December 03) ordered that status quo shall be maintained so as to ensure compliance with its November 27 directions regarding entry to Sabarimala temple only with valid passes and strict adherence to permitted date/time slots.The Division Bench comprising Justice Raja Vijaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar, after considering the submissions made before it deemed it necessary that its earlier directions ought to continue: "Having considered the submissions, the directions issued in the order dated 27.11.2025 shall continue for the time being."Earlier, taking note of the high influx of pilgrims, the Court had capped spot booking to 5,000 per day and virtual Q booking to 75,000 per day. Thereafter, on November 21, it had permitted the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to making slight modifications to the spot booking cap after noting that the crowd density and inflow of pilgrims had significantly reduced and making it clear that the density of pilgrims are to be restricted to the green-zone limits.On November 27, the Court was told that the influx of pilgrims increased again with around 1 lakh persons coming to the sanctum, with a large number of them carrying fake passes. It was also informed that when pilgrims arrived in groups, they were permitted to enter even without passes.Noting the burden caused to the other pilgrims, the movement of persons, drinking water supply, parking and sanitation issues, the Court had issued strict directions to the Chief Co-ordinator of the police team and the TDB to ensure that only persons with genuine passes be permitted inside the holy temple and only at their allotted times on allotted dates.It had also directed the Devaswom Board to give wide and continuous publicity to its directions and to give alert to the pilgrims having valid Virtual-Q booking regarding their scheduled date and time of visit.After observing that its earlier directions are to be complied with for the time being, the Court posted the matter on December 17.Case No: SSCR No. 37 of 2025Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of KeralaClick to Read/Download Interim OrderClick to Read/Download Order dated 21.11.2025Click to Read/Download Order dated 27.11.2025

Sabarimala Overcrowding: Kerala High Court Extends Order Restricting Pilgrims' Entry Only With Valid Passes At Allotted Time Slots

K. Salma Jennath

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