The Kerala High Court on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of the enormous decorations put up in front of the Guruvayoor temple for the wedding of prominent industrialist Ravi Pillai’s son Ganesh Pillai. Ravi Pillai is the founder of RP Group of companies, he is one of the richest Kerala NRIs and is on Forbes list of India's richest. The court has asked the administrator of the Guruvayoor Devaswom managing committee to explain why the 'nadapanthal' in front of the temple was decorated with huge cutouts and tree branches for the wedding, as was reported in the media. A 'nadapanthal' is a structure set up in front of the temple for conducting various functions like weddings. A Bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and K Babu, on its own, issued the direction on September 7 on the basis of the news reports in connection with the preparations for the wedding to be held on September 9.
The administrator was asked to file an affidavit explaining the facts and circumstances in which the 'nadapanthal' was decorated with the huge cutouts and branches of trees.The committee told the court that it had adopted a resolution in February to permit 'pushpalangharam' (floral decorations) in the nadapanthal in connection with the marriage in question.
Image credit: Screen grab / Neelakkuyil Entertainments (YouTube)
Also, it told the Bench that every day over 100 marriages are being conducted in the nadapanthal in front of Guruvayoor Temple in strict conformity with COVID-19 protocol with each marriage party being permitted to have only 12 people, excluding the bride and bridegroom.
The court, thereafter, said: "We deem it appropriate to direct the administrator of Guruvayoor Devaswom Managing Committee to file an affidavit explaining the facts and circumstances in which the nadapanthal in front of Guruvayoor Temple was decorated with huge cutouts, branches of trees, etc., as seen from the photographs in the online media report. The affidavit shall be placed on record by September 13."
Image credit: Screen grab / Neelakkuyil Entertainments (YouTube)
The Bench directed the administrator to take necessary steps to ensure no violation of the COVID-19 protocol in the conduct of marriages in the nadapanthal in front of the Guruvayoor Temple and listed the matter for further hearing on September 14.
In 2015, the wedding of Ravi Pillai's daughter Arathy created much discussion in Kerala as the billionaire reportedly spent Rs 55 crores on the wedding. The wedding designed by Sabu Cyril, the production designer of Baahubali saw around 30,000 guests including 42 global leaders, including heads of state, CEOs, government reps, politicians, technocrats and diplomats.
The wedding this time around was at a much smaller scale due to the pandemic. Actor Mohanlal and his wife Suchitra attend the wedding at Guruvayoor.
Watch video of the event: