Bengaluru: In a victory of sorts for the royal family of Travancore, the Supreme Court has overturned the 2011 judgment of Kerala High Court that granted the power to the state government to take control of the Padmanabhaswami Temple, its management and assets. 

The case was heard by a 2-judge bench justice UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra. 

They ruled that the death of a king of the Travancore family shall not affect the rights of the family and the family will continue to manage the affairs of the temple. 

And in what comes as a reassertion for Hindus, the top court has also said that all members of the temple managing committee will be Hindus. 

Moments after the verdict, the family welcomed it. 

 

MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar was an intervening petitioner in the Padmanabhaswamy temple case.

He took to Twitter and wrote, "Even though I was not the main petitioner, I feel blessed that I cud be associated wth this epic battle to protect #LordPadmanabhaswamy n faith of Lacs of devotees from the grubby greedy hands of Communists🙏🏻 #OmNamoNarayana (sic)."

The top court also noted that the committee formed under the supervision of the royal family would decide if Kallara B or Vault B would be opened. 

The Kerala government has stated that it will follow what the Supreme Court has said. As stated by a popular website, the State Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran has stated that the state has always followed SC verdicts in letter and spirit.
It might be recalled that in the year 2011, a judgment of the Kerala High Court had granted the power to the state government to take control of the temple, its management and assets.

The state government of Kerala wanted to take over the reins of the temple. The Kerala high court handed over the management of the temple to the state government and asked it to make an inventory of all the articles in the 5 of the 6 vaults. But the royal family approached the top court against the orders of the high court, handing over the management of the temple to the state government. 

Lord Vishnu happens to be the family deity of the royal family.