Sabarimala Aravana Prasadam: Supreme Court quashes order to prosecute contractor who supplied tainted cardamom

The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed a Kerala High Court order directing the prosecution of a contractor who supplied tainted cardamom for making Aravana Prasadam (a sweet for ritual offering) at Sabarimala Temple [Travancore Devaswom Board vs Ayyappa Spices and ors]..A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha stated that the High Court should not have entertained the petitions by an entity that had lost out on the contract."We have held that the writ petition should not have been allowed at all, and have, hence, allowed the appeals", the bench stated, while reading out the operative portion of its judgment..By way of background, in January last year, the Kerala High Court passed an interim order restraining the supply of Aravana Prasadam at Sabarimala after a chemical analysis reported that the cardamom used to prepare the offering contained pesticides beyond the permissible limits. The order was passed on a petition by Ayyappa Spices, which had earlier supplied cardamom for making the Aravana Prasadam in 2021-22, but which was not awarded the tender in 2022-23. Ayyappa Spices then sought the cancellation of the contract awarded to a local supplier and the testing of the cardamom supplied by the new contractor (one Sunil). On an analysis, the cardamom was found to have pesticides exceeding safe limits. The Travancore Devaswom Board had submitted that since the Aravana Prasadam only contained negligible amounts of cardamom and since the preparation involved heating the ingredients, the offering may still be safe for consumption. The Board, therefore, sought the High Court's permission to take samples of the Aravana Prasadam, which had been kept sealed on a court order, and send to for testing at a food laboratory. The Court, however, declined to grant such permission in an interim order passed in March 2023. The High Court reasoned that once the cardamom was found to be unsafe for consumption, the State cannot be permitted to supply Aravana Prasadam containing such cardamom. Moreover, in April 2023, the Court passed its final judgment on the matter and directed the Kerala Commissioner of Food Safety to initiate prosecution against the cardamom contractor since the cardamom supplied by him was found unfit for consumption. The contractor was deemed to have violated tender conditions and caused a loss to the board by supplying such unsafe cardamom. .On appeal, the Supreme Court has now set aside the High Court's direction. "We cannot lose sight of the fact that the appellant-Board initially tried to purchase cardamom by issuing tenders and calling for bids, not just once, but twice over. However, these tenders were cancelled since none of the bidder’s supplied cardamom of appropriate quality." Such compelling circumstances coupled with the impending festive season and the imminent need to prepare a huge quantity of Aravana Prasadam, necessitated procurement of cardamom from local sources, the top court observed. "Thus, it cannot be said that the decision is arbitrary, irrational or unreasonable. There is neither arbitrariness nor malice in the decision of the appellant-Board as all the prospective bidders were given a fair chance as the notice to purchase cardamom was published on the notice board ... We are of the opinion that the decision of the appellantBoard is legal, fair and transparent"..Sabarimala: Kerala High Court seeks State response on plea alleging use of spoiled halal jaggery for preparing prasadam.The top court had issued notice in the matter on March 15 last year and stayed the High Court's direction in question. At the time the top court also directed the competent authority under the Food Safety and Standards of India (FSSAI) to take random samples from the Aravana Prasadam and get an analysis done to examine if the preparation was fit for human consumption. Today, the Court has allowed the appeal against the High Court's verdict. .Senior Advocate V Giri with advocates Biju G, PS Sudheer, Rishi Maheshwari, Anne Mathew, and Bharat Sood appeared for the Travancore Devaswom Board..[Read judgment]