A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on November 9, 2023 dismissed a writ petition challenging the selection of Mahesh P.N. as Melsathi (chief priest) of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.
The Bench comprising Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice G. Gireesh observed that it did not find any reason to interfere with the selection of Mr. Mahesh as the chief priest of the temple.
The petition was filed by Madhusoodanan Namboothiri of Thiruvananthapuram. He had alleged that the piece of paper containing the name of Mr. Mahesh was not rolled by using both palms by the Special Commissioner before it was deposited into the pots as was done in the case of the other lots. The petitioner sought a directive to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to conduct fresh drawing of lots.
The court checked the CCTV footage of the draw of lots conducted on October 18, 2023 for the selection of Melsanthis for Sabarimala and Malikappuram temples and noted that the piece of paper with the name of Mr. Mahesh was put into the two pots after folding and rolling them with his finger by the Special Commissioner. However, he did not roll them with his palms.
The court also noted that both the two pots containing the lots were shaken and taken inside the sanctum sanctorum before handing these over to the Special Commissioner. The court added that some of the lots had unfolded partially during the shaking of the pots twice, as seen from the footage. The draw of lots was done by a child deputed by the Panthalam Royal family in the presence of High Court-appointed observer K. Padmanabhan Nair, pilgrims, the TDB president and other officials.
The court, which noted the presence of a large number of people in the enclosure before the sanctum sanctorum during the draw of lots, directed that Sabarimala Special Commissioner, the president of TDB (in his absence, a board member), the Devaswom Commissioner and the High Court observer should only be allowed entry the enclosure during the draw of lots in future.
