KERALA, INDIA, August 9, 2021 (Hinduism Today by Choodie Sivaram): Devotees of Kerala’s historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple rejoiced at the July 13, 2020, ruling of India’s Supreme Court upholding the rights of the royal family of Travancore to administer the wealthy temple.
The two-judge bench of Justice U. U. Lalit and Justice Indu Malhotra reinstated the rights of the royal family as the shebaits (a person who serves and supports the established Deity), overruling a 2011 judgement of the Kerala high court. “We hold that the death of Sree Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma (the last maharajah of Travancore) would not in any way affect the shebaitship of the temple held by the royal family of Travancore,” the court stated.
The Kerala High Court had directed in 2011 that the state government take control of the management and assets of the temple, immediately divesting the royal family of their hereditary rights to administer the temple. The family appealed to the Supreme Court against this judgement.
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https://www.hinduismtoday.com/temples-and-pilgrimage/famed-kerala-temple-wins-supreme-court-decision/