SREE KOLLAKAL POROOR MADOM DEVI KSHETHRAM UPADESAKA SAMITHI, MUTHUKULAM NORTH Vs. TRAVANCORE DEVASWOM BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is one filed by Sree Kollakal Poroor Madom Devi Kshethra Upadeshaka Samithi, the Temple Advisory Committee in Sree Kollakal Poroor Madom Devi Temple, constituted under Sec. 31A of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. The said temple is under the management of the 1st respondent Travancore Devaswom Board. In this writ petition, the petitioner has sought for the following reliefs;

(2.) Going by the averments in the writ petition, the petitioner is the Kshethra Upadeshaka Samithi (Temple Advisory Committee) of Sree Kollakal Poroor Madom Devi Temple, which is an incorporated temple included in the schedule of the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, which is under the administration of the 1st respondent Travancore Devaswom Board. In the year 1998, the 4th respondent Kadasseri Mumila NSS Karayogam filed O.S.No.16 of 1998 against the Devaswom Board to declare their right to conduct various rituals in the temple, which stood dismissed by Ext.P1 judgment dtd. 9/9/2005. In appeal, the Devaswom Board entered into a compromise with the 4th respondent, by granting them the relief of conducting the Paraeduppu Ezhunullippu of the Devi for 5 days in Makarom Malayalam month of every year. The 4th respondent relinquished all their claims except the Paraeduppu. According to the petitioner, the said compromise is not binding either on the deity or the Kshethra Upadeshaka Samithi or the devotees of the temple, as they were not parties to the suit or appeal. The petitioner is undertaking all the development and renovation works of the temple with the active participation of the devotees and the Devaswom authorities have acknowledged that aspect many times. The petitioner, in November 2015, made an offering of a new Jeevatha to the temple to take Devi in procession while ezhunullippu. There are more than 1700 Para used to be taken in a year and the amount collected per Para is Rs.190.00. Almost all the devotees of the temple made complaints to the Devaswom Board and the Kshethra Upadeshaka Samithi for permitting a particular community to conduct Paraeduppu of the temple and permitting them to appropriate the entire amount collected from it without making any payment to the temple or to the Devaswom Board. The petitioner Samithi requested the Devaswom Board to permit it to perform Paraeduppu Ezhunullippu of the temple, from the year 2016, with an undertaking that they will issue the receipts countersigned or sealed by the Devaswom Board and the entire amount collected from the Paraeduppu would be utilised for the development of the temple under the supervision of the Board. But, respondents 1 to 3 are not responding to that request and, on the other hand, extending help to the 4th respondent NSS Karayogam.

(3.) On 27/1/2016, when this writ petition came up for admission, the learned Standing Counsel for Travancore Devaswom Board took notice for respondents 1 and 2. Notice was ordered to respondents 3 and 4.