Sabarimala Spot Booking Intended To Ensure Maximum Participation At Darshan, Cannot Be Confined To Two Days: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Friday ruled that the validity of seats registered for Sabarimala darshan through spot booking cannot be confined to 2 days as followed presently. 

A Division Bench comprising Justices Anil K. Narendran and P.G Ajithkumar emphasised that the very purpose of introducing spot booking centres was to enable devotees who did not have the required facilities for online booking. 

"Spot booking is intended for those who do not have the necessary infrastructure for online booking. You cannot impose a limitation on that. The very purpose is to make sure maximum people can attend darshan at Sabarimala."

This comes after the Standing Counsel for the Travancore Devaswom Board informed that currently, the validity of spots booked through spot booking centres was only 2 days, including the date of booking, which affected the devotees who availed spot booking from distant centres. 

The Counsel submitted that it was impossible for devotees to go for darshan within the given time frame if they booked from a distant centre and added that this was resulting in crowds at the nearest centre, Nilakkal. 

Taking note of the same, the Court ruled that this defeated the very purpose of establishing spot booking centres. 

"The intention of the court for insisting on spot booking is to ensure that devotees who do not have the facilities for online booking are given a reasonable opportunity to go for Sabarimala darshan. Spot booking cannot be confined to the date of booking and the next day, except at Nilakkal; spots should be provided in all available slots."

However, the Bench added that at Nilakkal centre, spots may be valid only for a day since it was located very close to the shrine. 

The Board and the concerned authorities were directed to notify the same through the website, print and visual media as well as at the spot booking centres by today. 

The Bench also enquired as to the plausibility of extending spot booking facilities to devotees residing outside the State, particularly Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

At this juncture, the panel was informed that no centres were made available at the northern districts of the State. 

Hence, the Malabar Devaswom Board was added as a party to the matter to look over the feasibility of establishing spot booking centres at the temples managed by it around the State. 

The matter has been posted to Monday. 

The Court was adjudicating upon a PIL challenging the legality of the Pilgrim Management System implemented by the Kerala Police. It alleged that it restricts Darshan in Sabarimala to only those who avail Virtual Queue Services.

Three out of the ten proposed locations have active spot booking centres as of now. The remaining seven will be activated soon after receiving username and password from the TCS who runs the virtual queue services portal. 

It was submitted before the Court that the police had already arranged the required infrastructure for the centres and that the details from TCS were likely to reach today. 

Case Title: Suo Motu v. Travancore Devaswom Board