Kerala High Court appoints retired Justice V G Arun as observer for Sabarimala Melsanthi selection

1 October 2026

A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar appointed retired High Court judge Justice V G Arun as observer for the selection of the Melsanthis of the Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha temple and the Malikappuram temple.
The interviews are to be held on 5 October at the Travancore Devaswom Board headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram.
The court directed that the entire interview proceedings be video recorded, that interview marks be entered using ball point pens only, and that Justice Arun countersign the mark sheets.
The video recordings, mark lists and shortlist are to be placed before the court in a sealed cover by 15 October.
The draw of lots that decides the final selection may be held only after the court examines the material and issues further orders, and the observer must be present for it.
After vigilance scrutiny, 5 candidates out of 48 applicants for Sabarimala and 3 out of 30 for Malikappuram were recommended for interview.