Sabarimala Crowd Management: Kerala High Court Permits Parking Of Pilgrim Vehicles At Chakkupallam-II, Hilltop Area On Experimental Basis

Earlier, the Court had, as a temporary measure allowed such parking during the masapooja time.

The Division Bench of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S. emphasized that the parking shall be done only in a regulated manner in areas earmarked by the Travancore Devaswom Board and in strict compliance of the directions given by the Board and police. A parking fee shall be collected either through FASTag or manually. A vehicle can be parked only for a maximum period of 24 hours.

Only motor cars carrying pilgrims can be parked in this area. The vehicles of Devaswom staff, employees, kuthaka holders etc. cannot be parked here. Official vehicles, emergency vehicles and recovery vehicles shall be parked only in the departmental parking areas.

The parking space for 10 KSRTC buses shall be identified in the presence of Special Commissioner of Sabarimala. In cases, KSRTC require additional parking space, they shall inform it to the Special Commissioner, who shall after consultation with the police permit such additional parking area. As of now, KSRTC has parking space in Triveni Hilltop and Pamba bus stand.

The Court emphasized that this is to be done in an experimental case and in case any issue arises, the parking facility shall be limited to masapooja time.

“In case any such issues are there during the mandalam – makaravilakku season, this facility will be withdrawn forthwith… The Special Commissioner shall report any such incident to this court for immediate interference”, the Court remarked orally.

The police informed the Court that there were instances where issues cropped up due to unauthorized parking in the either side of the road from Nilakkal to Pamba. The Court was informed that unauthorized parking causes serious issues in crowd management, movement of vehicles and operation of KSRTC Nilakkal-Pamba chain service.

The Court strictly prohibited any parking in the either side of road in the Nilakkal-Pamba sector. The Court asked the police to remove any such vehicle unauthorizedly parked in the area using recovery vans.

The case is next posted on 20^th November.

Case Title: Suo Motu v State of Kerala and Others

Case No: DBP 43/ 2024