In what is seen as a major setback to the Travancore Devaswam Board, senior Supreme Court advocate Aryama Sundaram recused himself from appearing for the former in the revision petition against the September 28 verdict by the apex court quashing the customary bar on entry of women in the child-bearing age in the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. Sources close to the eminent advocate told The Pioneer that he may even appear for the petitioners challenging the court verdict.
The Pioneer had reported on Monday that Aryama Sundaram, grandson of the late Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar would represent the TDB in the apex court which is hearing the revision petition challenging the September 28 verdict delivered by the Constitution Bench on Tuesday.
The report had stated that Travancore Devaswom Board is a government department administering the temples in Kerala. Though no reason has been given by Sundaram for his decision to recuse from the case, sources close to the senior lawyer told The Pioneer that it could be due to two factors.
“He was under the impression that Travancore Devaswom Board was an autonomous entity like Thirumala Tiruppati Devasthanam at Lord Venkateswara Temple. But when he understood that the Board was a CPI-M controlled body he was shocked and hence the decision. Moreover, he was initially told by the Board to justify the ban on the entry of women to the temple but later on it made a vault face asking him to fight against the revision pleas,” said the source on condition of anonymity.
The source also said that Sundaram had argued for another organisation justifying the ban on the entry of women in the holy shrine on an earlier occasion. “If he had appeared for the TDB, it would have been against ethics,” pointed out the source.
A Padmakumar, president, Travancore Devaswom Board who is also a prominent CPI-M leader told reporters at Thiruvananthapuram that the decision of Aryama Sundaram to call off from the case was a political one and smacks of politics.
Kerala saw massive protests all over the State against the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry of women of child bearing age into the sanctum of the temple on Sunday and Monday. T V Mathew, a former judge and a devote Christian inaugurated the protest rally held at Perumbavoor on Sunday which saw massive crowd participation. Mathew wanted all women representatives of the three-tier local bodies in Kerala should intimate their views to the Supreme Court while the revision petition is heard. “I see big opposition and resistance from the women to the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court and now it is time for the women members of Panchayath, district panchayaths, municipal and corporation councils to come together and take a call on this issue,” said Mathew.