Swarna Shukla –
Published On: October 22, 2021 at 10:00 IST
The Kerala High Court questioned the State and its Police Force if they are empowered to manage the affairs of the Sabarimala Temple, overriding the powers of the Travancore Dewaswom Board that works as the trustee of the deity.
A Division Bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar was deciding upon a PIL that challenged the legality of the Sabarimala Pilgrim Management System (SPMS) initiated by the Kerala Police, alleging that it restricts Darshans to those people only who have availed the Virtual Queue Services.
State Attorney N Manoj Kumar contended that the Government was only concerned with the crowd management issue and the Virtual Queue System was implemented for the same.
The crowd management measures were implemented in consultation with the Devaswom Board.
The question before the Court was whether the Police and the State were entitled to host websites and run Virtual Queue System.
The Petitioner’s Counsel Advocate Abir Phukan argued that the platform was in the name of the Kerela Police and not the Devaswom Board. However, the State clarified that the Kerela Police looked into the matter of the Virtual Queue System only, and every other activity was handled by the Board.
The Petitioner’s Counsel claimed that the website revealed its objective well beyond crowd management as the data of the Pilgrims will be used for analytical and artificial intelligence.
They demanded an agreement between the Police and the TCS (as the State argued that TCS handles the Portal) to comprehend their terms.
The Virtual Queue System, as per the website maintained by the Police Department, is a limited subscription, first come, first serve basis service to provide access to the pilgrimage for the devotee.
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