According to the 1949 Covenant, the Sabarimala temple ownership was handed over to the TDB after the royal family had serious financial woes, the CM said.

According to the 1949 Covenant, the Sabarimala temple ownership was handed over to the TDB after the royal family had serious financial woes, the CM said.

According to the 1949 Covenant, the Sabarimala temple ownership was handed over to the TDB after the royal family had serious financial woes, the CM said.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took on the Pandalam royal family on Monday over claims that they have the rights to the Sabarimala temple that has been at the centre of a row over the entry of women of child-bearing age to the hill shrine.

The CM said they were staking claims on things which they cannot. "The Sabarimala temple is the property of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and none else has any rights over it. According to the 1949 Covenant, the Sabarimala temple ownership was handed over to the TDB after the royal family had serious financial woes,” he added.

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1949 Covenant

“The signatories of the Covenant were the Maharajas of Travancore and Kochi and V P Menon, who represented the Union Government. The first matter the Covenant dealt with was the merger of Travancore and Kochi. The second matter was regarding the formation of TDB for controlling all temples in Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Board for the temples in Kochi,” the CM pointed out.

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He further said that the Covenant had the condition that when the TDB was formed, the government had to grant it an amount of Rs 50 lakh and the Pandalam royal family was not a party in the Covenant.

"Today they just conduct ritualistic activities of the temple and that they can continue to do," said Pinarayi.

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On September 28, in a 4:1 judgment, the apex court said the ban on women of child-bearing age, whose presence in the Lord Ayyappa temple was considered to be 'impure', violated their fundamental rights and constitutional guarantee of equality.

Until now, only girls below 10 years and women over 50 years were allowed to visit the shrine.

Meanwhile, Sasikumar Varma, the Pandalam palace coordination committee president, said that he had referred to the Covenant of 1949 to ensure that all the traditional practices related to the temple were preserved. He added that all the documents to prove the connection between the Pandalam palace and the Sabarimala temple would be submitted before the Supreme Court.

Varma’s earlier statement that the palace had the authority to close down the temple as per the Covenant had drawn flak.

Varma said even though the government used all its machinery and tried to bring women, barred by tradition, to the shrine, they could not succeed.