THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that temples are the property of Devaswom board and nobody need to assert their false authority on them.

“In Sabarimala, the thantri has the right to decide the puja part but it is the Devaswom board that takes decision on the administration of the temple. It is the responsibility of the thantri to allow believers to have darshan in the temple and they should not prevent them.

The attempt of thanthri and his assistants to sabotage the Supreme Court order after threatening to lock up the temple cannot be accepted,” he said.
The chief minister said that over the past five years, the government had spent Rs 302 crore for Sabarimala. Not even a single paisa was taken from the Devaswom board.

“The present claim is that according to 1949 covenant, the Pandalam has all the rights on Sabarimala temple.

Travancore-Kochi rajas and CV P Mohanan representing the Centre were parties to the covenant. Two facts are mentioned in this. One is Thiru-Kochi unification and the second point is temples in Travancore should be brought under Travancore Devaswom board and those in Kochi kingdom should be brought under Kochi Devaswom board.

Pandalam king was not a party in the case. The king had surrendered his kingdom to Travancore king much earlier. Thus Initially, Sabarimala was the property of Travancore kings and later it began to be owned by Thiru-Kochi state.

After the unification of Kerala, the temple became the State property. Ever since the Devaswom board was board, it became the property of Devaswom board,” the chief minister explained.