The Kerala High Court today declined to accept a plea seeking deployment of National Disaster Response Force for management and supervision of crowd at the holy 18 steps (pathinatampadi) at the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.
A division bench, comprising justice T R Ramachandran Nair and justice P V Asha, said they had sought the Sabarimala Special Commissioner's report and were statisfied that effective steps had been taken to supervise the holy steps and manage the crowd.
According to the petitioners-- Save Holy Pamba project and Art of Living Foundation, the present system was incapable of managing the crowd at the temple during festival season as thousands throng from neighbouring states to offer worship. To avoid an unpleasant situation, the National Disaster Response Force should be deployed, they observed.
