KOCHI: The 1,045-page Ayodhya verdict of the five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court has a Kerala connection.
A petition filed by C K Rajan, hailing from Vylathur in Thrissur, in 1992 against Guruvayur Devaswom Managing Committee to contend that a temple itself was a juristic entity was mentioned in the historic Ayodhya verdict.
The dispute concerned the mismanagement of temple affairs by the Devaswom committee.
“A three-judge bench of this court (SC) held that devotees could approach a High Court or the Supreme Court by way of public interest litigation where their fundamental rights under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution were violated by action or inaction on behalf of the state authorities,” the order said.
When contacted by TNIE, Rajan, an auto driver, said following his petition against the Devaswom committee, the Kerala High Court had set up a commission headed by Justice K S Paripoornan to look into the matter. Rajan said his main contention was that the temple had incurred huge losses by pledging its gold to the Reserve Bank of India, and withdrawing money deposited with Dhanlaxmi Bank before its maturity and using it for other purposes.
The Devaswom committee also produced a film, ‘Guruvayur Mahatmyam’, which also made huge losses. Rajan said he was happy that the apex court referred to his petition in the matter of Guruvayur temple too to decide on the Ayodhya case.
Advocate Vinod M V, who has been following the case, explained that under the Guruvagur Devaswom Act, any case regarding the temple should be taken up only at the District Court.
However, in this case, the Kerala High Court had said, “In any event, as a Hindu temple is a juristic person, the very fact that Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure seeks to protect the same for the same purpose Article 226 and 32 could also be taken recourse to.” And this has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.