Kochi | The Kerala High Court has directed the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB) to make all necessary and sustained efforts to ensure that the premises of the Chottanikkara Bhagavathy Temple are maintained in a clean, hygienic, and orderly condition at all times.

The High Court directed the board to examine the report given by the Suchitwa Mission after an inspection of the temple premises and the existing waste generation and disposal practices there.

The temple is classified as one among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram (temple) of the Vaishnavate tradition.

The Suchitwa Mission report contains detailed directions and recommendations with regard to solid waste management practices and proposed systems, liquid waste management mechanisms, and allied sanitation measures to be implemented within the temple premises, the court noted.

It directed the Board to place before it a detailed statement indicating the timeframe as well as the manner in which the recommendations of the Suchitwa Mission are proposed to be implemented and listed the matter on February 20.

The inspection was carried out on the orders of the court, which in December last year had noted that the surroundings of the temple were in a deplorable condition, with plastic waste, food remnants, and garbage strewn indiscriminately in and around its premises.

The court, earlier, had also observed that the measures adopted by the temple authorities were wholly inadequate and posed serious environmental, public health, and sanitation concerns at a place of great religious importance.