NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court allowed to destroy aravana, whose sale was stopped on the grounds that it was made from cardamom containing pesticides. The court clarified that the devaswom board and the state government should cooperate to destroy the aravana. The court also informed that both can decide together how and where to destroy it. The directive was given on the plea of the devaswom board.

The Kerala High Court stopped the sale after the presence of pesticides was found in the cardamom used to make aravana. Following this, 6.65 lakh tins of aravana are being hoarded. The devaswom board incurred a loss of crores after not being able to sell so much aravana. The tins have been stored in various godowns in Sabarimala since January. The food safety and standards authority of India, which examined the presence of pesticides, had given a report that aravana was edible. However, the board had informed the court that they will not sell it as it had been two months after its production.

The Supreme Court also criticized the action of the Kerala High Court which stopped the sale of aravana. The observation of the court was that the high court's intervention in matters of commercial interest was not proper.