Kerala High Court Takes Suo Motu Cognizance On Businessman's Son's Marriage For Heavily Adorning Guruvayoor Temple Without Sanction Amid Pandemic

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday alerted the Administrator of the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board to take necessary steps to prevent any violation of Covid-19 protocol in conducting marriages at the temple. 

This comes after a news item appeared in the online media portraying the Temple heavily decorated with cutouts and tree branches apart from flowers put together for the marriage of Ganesh Pillai, the son of a prominent businessman and Padma Shri award winner Ravi Pillai.

A Division Bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice K Babu took suo motu cognizance of the matter upon coming across the said news for violating Covid-19 protocol in the State.

The marriage will take place today at the Guruvayur temple. Magnificent decorations have been prepared on the east gate of the temple for the same, as evidenced from the photographs attached with the online report. 

Complaints have been registered with the District Collector for inviting thousands to the said wedding amid the pandemic. 

Upon proceedings being initiated, the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board in one of the earlier hearings had informed the Court that the cutouts, branches of trees, and other ornamentations have been removed.

Photographs after such removal were also made available for the perusal of the Bench. 

Standing Counsel for the Board T.K Vipindas was thereby directed to inquire as to whether if any permission was granted by the Devaswom Board in connection with the marriage in question to decorate the Nadappanthal in front of Temple.

When the matter came up for consideration subsequently, the Counsel submitted that although the Board had taken a resolution to permit floral decorations in the Nadappanthal, for the said marriage, no permission was granted for decorating it with cutouts and tree, branches.

It was further submitted that every day about 110 marriages were conducted in the Nadappanthal, in front of Guruvayoor Temple, in strict conformity with Covid-19 protocol.

Each marriage was permitted to have only 12 persons, excluding the bride and the groom, the Board stated.

Having considered the submissions and the material on record,  the Administrator of Guruvayoor Devaswom Managing Committee was directed to file an affidavit explaining the facts and circumstances in which the Temple was decorated with huge cutouts, branches of trees, etc., as seen from the photographs in the online media report.

The Administrator was further directed to take necessary steps to ensure that there is no violation of Covid-19 protocol in the conduct of marriages in the Nadappanthal in front of Guruvayoor Temple.

The matter will be heard again on 14th September.

The matter has been given such gravity owing to the steadily escalating number of Covid-19 cases in the State. The government has been implementing several measures to contain the pandemic for the past few months. 

Reports also suggest that prominent personalities from the political, cinematic and social circles will also be attending the function.

Case Title: Suo Motu v. The Administrative Officer, Guruvayoor Devaswom Board

Click Here To Read The Order