'No Religion Permits Such Brutal Tree Felling, Pay Compensation From Festival Offerings': Supreme Court To Kerala Temple Committee

The Supreme Court on Friday (April 4) pulled up the temple committee of the Thiru Keralapuram Sreekrishnaswamy Temple, located in Peroor Village, Kerala, over three cutting of three Wild Jack Trees, each having a diameter of about 1.5 to 2 meters, on the temple premises.

A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was dealing with an interlocutory application in a property dispute regarding the temple.

According to a report submitted by the District Collector of Kottayam, the trees were cut at the instance of the temple's Administrative Committee.

During the hearing, Justice Oka remarked, “No religion permits felling of trees in such a brutal manner.”

Justice Oka asked the counsel for the temple committee, “How much compensation per tree will you pay to the forest department and how many trees will you plant?”

In response, the counsel submitted that the tree-cutting was done by the previous committee and informed the Court that the present committee had already planted 100 trees after the Court's earlier status quo order. He further submitted that the committee was ready to plant 100 more trees.

The Court asked the temple committee to specify in an affidavit how many trees it had planted and to indicate the compensation amount it was willing to pay for the trees that were cut.

When the counsel for the temple committee submitted that it was a very small and poor temple and that the people did not have money, particularly because the yearly festival was happening, the Court said that the offerings collected from devotees during the festival could be directed towards compensating the forest department.

Justice Oka said, “In this festival people will be offering something to the god, right? So whatever is offered at this festival can go to the forest department. As simple as that. Give an undertaking saying normally how much amount is received by way of the offerings during the festival. That amount you will pay to the forest department by way of compensation. That will solve the problem. Somebody must plant trees and somebody must pay compensation, and somebody must take responsibility.”

The Court kept the matter on April 9, 2025, to enable the temple committee to file the affidavit.

Background

The respondent in the present SLP, who claims to be the owner of the property, sought to restrain the appellant, from trespassing on the property. The respondent succeeded in the High Court, leading to the present SLP by appellant.The respondent filed the present IA regarding the felling of trees in the temple.

The Supreme Court on November 4, 2024 observed that prima facie, a large number of trees in the premises of the temple had been felled and some construction activities were in progress. Accordingly, the Court granted ad-interim relief directing the petitioners to maintain status quo with respect to the property of the temple and restrained them from carrying out any construction or cutting of trees on the temple lands.

The Court directed the District Collector/District Magistrate, Kottayam, to depute appropriate revenue officers to visit the temple premises to ascertain how many trees had been felled, whether permission was obtained from the competent authority, and to peruse the records of the temple. The officers were also empowered to record statements regarding the tree cutting.

As per the report submitted on December 6, 2024, by the District Collector, Kottayam, three Wild Jack Trees, each having an approximate diameter of 1.5 to 2 meters, were cut at the instance of the Administrative Committee of the temple. The Court directed that status quo as of that day be maintained in respect of the timber of the cut trees.

On March 24, 2025, the Supreme Court directed that the interim order dated January 27, 2025, would continue till the main Special Leave Petition is heard. Additionally, the Court ordered that there should be no further cutting of trees on the property without express leave of the Court.

Case no. – Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No. 4983/2023

Case Title – K.K. Suresh & Anr. v. Jayakkuttan & Ors.