Sabarimala row: TDB to approach SC seeking more time

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The

Travancore Devaswom Board

in a meeting has decided to approach the Supreme Court seeking more time to implement its verdict allowing women's entry to Sabarimala. The petition will be filed on Saturday by its counsel Chander Uday Singh.


After the board meeting,

TDB

president A Padmakumar said the board has decided to go with a petition before the Supreme Court since there are some difficulties at present in implementing the verdict. "There is no doubt that the board will have to implement the SC verdict. But we need more time to prepare for it," he said.

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The TDB had sought a legal opinion on the chances of filing a petition before the Supreme Court. After getting the same, the board unanimously decided to approach the apex court.

"The floods have damaged several of the facilities at Pampa. Moreover, all types of construction have been banned by the Centre. In addition to this, the TDB had sought more forest land for the development of facilities. The Sabarimala had witnessed several incidents when the temple was opened two times after the verdict. All these issues will be brought before the Supreme Court,’’ said A Padmakumar.

He said the TDB cannot seek a time frame for implementing the order, hence it is up to the Supreme Court to decide on this. He hoped that a favourable decision will be taken by the Supreme Court.

The TDB president also expressed concern over the way the police have imposed several restrictions at Sabarimala without even consulting with the board.

The police had asked all the shops at Sannidhanam to close after 10 pm after the temple is closed for the day and to stop the distribution of appam and

aravana

as well as the neyyabhishekam after 10pm. On this, the TDB president said, "It is not practical to bring in any type of control on the age old practices. Hence the board has already communicated to the Devaswom minister that no such restrictions can be imposed. The minister has spoken to the director general of police and has asked him to withdraw all these restrictions with immediate effect."