A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that the temple advisory committee cannot collect money from devotees in the name of ‘vazhipadu’ or offer parallel ‘vazhipadu’ to devotees in temples under the management of the Cochin Devaswom Board.
The Bench led by Justice Anil K. Narendran made the observation when the petition filed by the Khestra Kshema Samithi of the Ernakulam Siva temple came up for hearing.
The court noted that in terms of the provisions contained in the rules (bye-laws) framed under sub-section (3) of Section 76A of the the Travancore- Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, a temple advisory committee cannot collect money from devotees without prior permission of the board
