Travancore Devaswom Board to appeal against Supreme Court's Sabarimala verdict

Travancore Devaswom Board had a meeting to find an amicable solution on Sabarimala row

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Friday said that it will appeal against the Supreme Court's verdict of allowing entry for women of all age to Sabarimala Temple. 

TDB president A Padmakumar confirmed the decision following the Board's meeting. 

The meeting took place in Thiruvananthapuram to find an amicable solution to the row.

Prior to the meeting, TDB had confirmed that it was ready for any sort of compromise to end the stand-off.

TDB president A Padmakumar said the board has always taken a stand that it was ready for any sort of compromise to end the protest and bring normalcy. "We are not for any politics over the issue," he had earlier told reporters.

Seeking to reach out to devotees opposing entry of women of all age groups, Padmakumar had asked if the protests would end if the TDB files a review plea in the Supreme Court against its verdict.

Last week's meeting attended by various stakeholders of the shrine, including temple tantri (head priest), the Pandalam royal family, 'Ayyappa Seva Samajam' and 'Yoga Kshema Sabha', had failed to arrive at an agreement as the TDB stuck to its stand of not going for a review plea.

Representatives of the Pandalam royal family had walked out as TDB refused to concede their demand to take a decision on filing the review plea Tuesday itself.

However, the TDB president had said the meeting was not a "failure" and the board wanted to settle the issue and go ahead with the talks with the people concerned again.

The Sabarimala temple, located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats, opened yesterday for the first time after the recent apex court order, allowing entry of women of all age groups there.

The shrine will close on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.

(With Agency Inputs)