Supreme Court lawyers appearing for a senior member of the Pandalam royal family, believed by worshippers to be the foster-family of the presiding deity of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, are expected to participate in a conference scheduled for January 17 to reframe issues to be argued before a nine-judge Constitution Bench set up to examine the legality of certain ‘essential’ religious practices.
A nine-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde has directed the Supreme Court Secretary General to coordinate with some senior advocates and convene a meeting on January 17 of all the lawyers who would appear before them in the case.
Reframe questions
The lawyers would reframe or add questions to the ones referred to by a five-judge Review Bench in the Sabarimala case on November 14, 2019.
Senior advocate K. Radhakrishnan, appearing for Pandalam family member Raja Raja Varma, submitted before the Bench that the temple was an “unincorporated” entity with its own essential practices which had been adhered to since time-immemorial.
Mr. Varma’s application in court submitted that he was duty-bound to protect the “essential practices” of the temple.
