According to a ruling by the Kerala High Court, no one may provide VIP or helicopter access to the Sabarimala shrine. No one shall receive preferential treatment at the shrine, the court further ruled. The ruling was made in light of the suo moto cognisance that the High Court took last month about numerous news reports offering helicopter service packages for Sabarimala pilgrims by a private agency. A division bench made up of Justices Anil K. Narendran and PG Ajith Kumar announced the decision. It is observed that on their website ‘helikerala.com,’ Enhance Aviation Flights Ltd. offered helicopter services for pilgrims to Sabarimala.
The Devaswom Board shall make sure that the court’s ruling is followed, the court further stated in the judgement. Everyone is a regular devotee when they get at Nilakkal, the halting site before Sabarimala. When the Court convened for a special session last month, it noted that ‘considering that Sabarimala and its vicinity has been declared as Special Security Zone in terms of the notification issued under Section 83(1) and (2) of the Kerala Police Act, 2011 and taking note of various aspects of crowd management and other security aspects in Sabarimala, as pointed out in the report of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, various directions have been issued restricting the movement in the area’.
Despite all of these limitations, the 11th respondent (Enhance Aviation Services Ltd.) provided darshan and other services to pilgrims at Sabarimala as part of their helicopter service package without requesting any kind of authorization from the Travancore Devaswom Board. It continued, ‘The 11th respondent (Enhance Aviation Services Ltd) offered helicopter services to Nilakkal, which is within the Special Security Zone notified under Section 83(1) and (2) of the said Act, even without obtaining the necessary permissions from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the District Administration, the District Police, as well as the Travancore Devaswom Board’.
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