Plea before Kerala High Court against halt on Mahamagha Mahotsavam preparations in Kerala

The Kerala High Court on Monday sought the State government's response to a plea challenging a stop memo issued by the Village Officer at Thirunavaya stalling the preparations for the 'Thirunavaya Mahamagh Mahotsavam', a Hindu pilgrimage festival set to be revived on the banks of the Bharathapuzha river after nearly 250 years [MK Vijaykumar v District Collector & ors]

The matter came up before Justice C Jayachandran who directed the government to file its response on the stop memo issued by the village officer under the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of removal of Sand Act, 2001 (Act).

The matter will be heard next on January 20.

The petition was filed by the Mahamagha Mahotsava Organising Committee convener MK Vijaykumar.

As per the plea, the festival 'Mahamagh Mahotsavam', scheduled to be held from January 16 to February 3 at Thirunavaya in Malappuram district, is described as the 'Kumbh Mela of South India'.

It marks the revival of an ancient Hindu ritual that was discontinued during the British period.

According to the petitioner, nearly 50,000 devotees from across South India are expected to participate daily and preparations for the festival began last year in the month of November.

The organisers had approached various authorities, including the District Collector, Revenue, police and fire authorities as well as the Local Self Government Institutions, seeking permissions and for coordination.

In the meeting convened by the Tirur Sub-Collector on December 5 last year, it was decided that three temporary bridges would be constructed to facilitate the movement of devotees. The organisers also took the responsibility of deploying 600 volunteers for crowd management.

Officials were also assigned responsibilities, including monitoring the water levels in the river, regulating traffic, installing CCTV cameras and arranging other facilities in the area where the festival is scheduled to happen.

As per the petitioner, the district collector had issued detailed guidelines on January 15 directing that adequate crowd control measures be taken, especially in areas where large gatherings are expected.

According to plea, the organisers claimed that they complied with all directions, including arranging 24-hour medical teams, emergency evacuation plans and traffic regulation systems.

However, while the arrangements for the festivals were going on, the village officer of Thirunavaya issued a stop memo on January 8 citing objections to the construction of temporary bridges across the river, thereby putting a halt on activities related to the festival.

The petitioner has contended that the village officer lacks jurisdiction to issue such an order and only a district collector is empowered to pass orders under Section 13 (power of the government or district collector to close river in case of encroachment or obstruction in any river bank as given in clause 3) of the Act.

The petitioner further adds that the village officer is only an ex-officio member of the Kadavu committee with no independent authority.

Kadavu committee is a committee which regulates the removal of sand in every Kadavu (area from where sand is removed) or river bank situated in a district.

According to the petition, the law is primarily meant to prevent illegal sand mining and not to restrict religious festivals and no sand removal activity was involved in the construction of the temporary bridges.

The petition was filed through advocates Amith Krishnan, Hanna Mary Mathew, Manavi Muraleedharan and Kavya KP.