Kerala High Court upholds caste criterion qualifying only Malayala Brahmins for Sabarimala chief priest post

Kerala High Court upholds caste criterion qualifying only Malayala Brahmins for Sabarimala chief priest post

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a batch of petitions challenging notifications issued by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) seeking only Malayala Brahmin applicants for the post of ‘melshanthi’ (chief priest) at the Sabarimala temple.

A division bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and P G Ajithkumar gave the verdict on the pleas that contended that restricting the selection of the chief priest post in such a way constituted untouchability and was violative of rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

The TDB notifications in question called for applications to the post of chief priests in Sabarimala for Sannidhanam (the temple for the main deity, Lord Ayyappa) and Malikappuram (the goddess enshrined in a small temple nearby) with the caste criterion.

The court dismissed the writ petitions, saying that they lacked proper pleadings.

“The right protected under Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution is the right to enter a temple and worship. This right is not absolute and unlimited in character. No member of Hindu public could claim as part of the rights protected under Article 25(2)(b) that a temple must be kept open for worship at all hours of the day and night or that they could perform the services which the archakas alone could perform,” the court said.

“Therefore, we find absolutely no merit in the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the conditions stipulated in the notification issued by the Devaswom Commissioner that the applicant for appointment as melshanthis at Sabarimala Devaswom and Malikappuram Devaswom shall be a Malayalee Brahmin would amount to untouchability abolished under Article 17 of the Constitution,” the court added.

A July 2021 plea before the high court, filed through advocate B G Harindranath, challenged the TDB notification, saying that it totally disregards Supreme Court judgments and Articles 14, 15, 16, 17, and 21 of the Constitution of India.

The plea said the chief priest appointment had been held to be secular and should not have been confined to one particular community, especially in an institution administered by the TDB, fully controlled by the Kerala government.

Representing some of the other petitioners, advocate Dr Mohan Gopal contended that Sabarimala is for all Hindus and that the right to be a priest without a caste barrier is intrinsically linked to the right to enter and worship the temple without any discrimination based on caste.

The court said that in the absence of proper pleadings on Articles 25 and 26, there was no need to keep these writ petitions open for the larger bench of the Supreme Court to decide on the issue. “However, we make it clear that the contentions of both sides in this respect are kept open to be raised in an appropriate proceeding at an appropriate time,” the court said.

One of the petitioners, Sijith T L, told The Indian Express that he would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court and had already started paperwork for it.

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