ORDER

Raja Vijayaraghavan V, J.

The instant report has been submitted by the Sabarimala Special Commissioner regarding the timely removal of clothes collected from the riverbanks at Pampa.

2. The report states that the inspection conducted by the Special Commissioner has revealed that the banks o f the river Pampa and the steps leading to the river are heavily littered with discarded clothes left behind by devotees. It is further recorded that although a Kuthaka has been granted to remove the accumulated clothes in a timely manner, the said work is not being carried out effectively, even at the very commencement of the Mandala–Makaravilakku Season 2025–26.

3. We have considered the submissions advanced.

4. From the commencement of the Pilgrim Season on 17.11.2025, on average, pilgrims, often exceeding 80,000 per day, reach Pampa and Sannidhanam. It appears that a widespread but wholly non-ritualistic practice has evolved wherein many of them discard their dhotis and other garments along the riverbank, on the steps leading to the holy river, and in some cases directly into the river. The photographs placed before us by the Special Commissioner depict large quantities of clothes dumped on