The Kerala High Court expressed displeasure over the performance of political symbols and music during the Kadakkal Devi Temple festival of Kolm on 10 March. The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (18 March 2025) reprimanded the Travancore Devaswom Board for allowing such activities inside the temple premises. During the festival, flags of the ruling party CPI (M) and its student wing were placed.
Advocate Vishnu Sunil filed a petition by Advocate Vishnu Sunil. In the petition, Sunil said that CPI (M) and its youth branch Democratic Youth Federation of India (Dyfi) were set up during the Kadakkal Devi temple festival. Along with this, revolutionary songs associated with leftist political groups were also played. In addition, the feelings of many devotees were hurt.
The petitioner further stated that singer Alaoshi Adam was called for music performance during the temple festival, which was extremely illegal. This has hurt the feelings of the devotees deeply. He argued that this performance was never part of the temple festival. Advocate said that this performance violates the principle of secularism, which is part of the original structure of the Constitution.
Bar and bench of According to the reportThe petition alleged that the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, failed to ensure that the temple complex was not used for political purposes. After this, a bench of Justice Anil’s Narendran and Justice Murali Krishna criticized the political demonstration inside the temple premises.
Court asks for answers from the temple board regarding the concert
The Kerala High Court has sought a response to the music performance, reprimanding the board managing Kolm’s Kadakkal Devi temple. The court said, “What kind of decorations have you done on stage?
Accepted the petition of Advocate Vishnu Sunil and from Kadakkal Devi Temple Advisory Committee and other defenders on this Ask for answerThe court has passed an interim order after watching videos of the festival. The order states, “After watching the video clip, we find that the activities that occur on the annual festival on March 10 cannot be accepted in the temple.”
Music Performance Temple Fund misuse: High Court
In this case, the Kerala High Court warned the Temple Board that there should not be such incidents in any temple managed by them. The court further stated in the directive, “The Travancore Devaswom Board will ensure that there is no such activity in the celebration of any temple under its management.” At the same time, the temple board said that the temple advisory committee had organized a concert without informing him.
However, the court did not agree with this argument of the temple board i.e. Travancore Devaswom Board. The High Court said, “We are not prima facie affected by the stance adopted by the board. As it can be seen in the video, a large amount of money has been spent on the platform equipped with LED screen and flash lights.” The court said that such misuse of temple wealth could have been prevented.
The court said, “No organization or group of devotees will be allowed to collect money from devotees or public for organizing the temple festivals.
During the hearing, the lawyer appearing on behalf of the Travancore Devaswom Board told the court that the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (Sub -Inspector) had asked to investigate the incident and submit a report. Also, show cause notice has been issued to the temple advisory committee. The court said that in the previous decisions, it has issued guidelines for the protection of the temple funds collected by the temple committees.
