The Supreme Court has asked the Kerala government to frame a separate law for the management of Sabarimala Temple. While insisting on the need for a new law, the Supreme Court asked the Kerala government to frame the law by the third week of January 2020.
Last week, the Justice Ranjan Gogoi had decided to refer the Sabarimala issue to a larger bench to re-examine religious issues including those arising out of its 2018 verdict lifting a centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age visiting the hilltop shrine.
Hearing a petition filed by Pandalam Royal Family to protect their rights, the Supreme Court took exception to the Kerala government attempt to change laws dealing with the administration of Sabarimala and other temples.
On the provision of 1/3rd quota for women in the Temple Advisory Committees, the SC asked, How can there be women in the panel when a 7-judge Bench is yet to examine the question of essential religious practices.
In reply, the Kerala government told the SC that involving women in temples' administration was part of its liberal push.
The Kerala government was asked to frame a new law for Sabarimala temple on August 27. However, it produced draft amendments in the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act in the SC. This is not enough. Need for a new, exclusive law for the administration of Sabarimala temple, the SC noted.
The order was passed in a plea filed by the Pandalam royal family over the temple administration. The dispute first came into light in 2006 on the management of the temple and the nearby mosque.