The Kerala High Court has directed the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to submit the details, and the norms that are being followed to select assistants to Melshantis (head priests) of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and Malikappuram Devi temple by October 31.
The court specifically sought details like how many of such assistants are there, when they were appointed and whether their police verification was done. A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar issued the direction in a suo motu case, when the TDB submitted that the appointment of head priests were done in a transparent manner.
The board submitted that there would be around 20 assistants, and they were being chosen by the head priests.
Published – October 23, 2025 10:11 pm IST
