An eleven member high powered committee was appointed by the Kerala High Court to oversee the arrangements that will mark the festive season at temple Sabarimala. Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar was appointed as its Chairman.

Along with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the proposed committee was appointed with the consent of a Division Bench comprising Justices P R Raman and T R Ramachandran. The TDB’s President and its members, its commissioner, secretary, Home Secretary, Director General of Police or his nominee, Special Commissioner to Sabarimala, PWD Chief Engineer and Pattanamthitta District Collector were appointed as its members.

The order to constitute a committee for the holy shrine was considered when Kerala High Court was notified by Justice Ombudsman R. Bhaskaran of Devasom Board about the dire need of infrastructural facilities at the temple looking at the incongenial atmosphere created last year due to lack of it.

The Sabarimala temple which is considered as the Mecca of Hindus, mainly Malayalees celebrate a two month long festival between November and January where millions of devotee throng the temple situated in Pathanamthitta district.

The committee was asked to organize and co-ordinate with the activities of Devasom Board and other concerned departments of the government while it was given complete freedom on its part to look after the activities of the shrine and to also supervise the volunteers to check upon the prices of food and other articles charged to the visitors.

The court also gave its consent for the funds that will be made available by the TDB while expenses of more than Rs 5 lakh are being ratified by the High Court.