The Supreme Court criticized the Devaswom administration of the Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple in Kerala for cancelling the traditional 'Udayasthamana Pooja' in Guruvayur Ekadashi due to crowd control concerns. The court also questioned the reason for making this decision.

The bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal questioned the 'tantric' (chief priest) for agreeing to alter the ritual. This was even though, in a 1996 news article, the chief priest had stated that the rituals of the Guruvayur temple were organized by the Vedic philosopher Adi Shankaracharya himself, and no changes to the procedure were allowed.

A notice was issued by the court to the Guruvayur Devaswom administration asking the reason for the changes.
However, the bench regretted that it couldn’t take any action, as the hearing was taking place on Ekadashi day itself and the pooja was scheduled to begin on Tuesday evening.

The bench pointed out that the temple's website highlights the importance of the pooja and instructed the management to adhere to the ritual carefully.

Since the temple's rituals were set to begin on Tuesday evening, Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan, along with Advocate A Karthik, had requested an urgent hearing from Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday morning.

However, the CJI stated that he couldn't hear the matter that day but assured that it would be listed for hearing on Wednesday.The people who are members of the family holding priestly rights at the temple, went to the Supreme Court after the Kerala High Court dismissed their petition.

Senior advocates C S Vaidyanathan, Guru Krishna Kumar, and K Parameshar on Wednesday requested before Justice Maheshwari’s bench that the temple's ancient traditions were being violated.

Vaidyanathan stated that it was the temple administration's responsibility to protect these traditions, and the chief priest alone should not have been allowed to decide not to conduct the pooja.

Justice Maheshwari gave the example of the Kerala High Court’s order, which stated that during the arguments, the petitioners' lawyer and the lawyers for the other side argued that the Udayasthamana Pooja on Vrishchikam Ekadasi is performed to increase the deity's divine power. This has been a religious tradition in the temple for centuries. It is the deity's right to be worshipped on this day through the Udayasthamana Pooja, which is performed by the Othikans.

Justice Maheshwari was surprised to know how the Guruvayur Devaswom, with the chief priest's consent, could change the long-standing tradition just because a large crowd of devotees was expected. He asked, "How can a ritual be changed for that reason? You must do what is necessary for the deity."

The court also noted that when there are doubts about any religious practice at the temple, it is usually resolved through an astrological process called ‘ashtamangalya Pratunam.’ The court questioned whether this had been done before deciding not to perform the ‘Udayasthamana Pooja.’

The temple administration responded by saying that there was no deviation from any ritual, as claimed, and that the legal issue arose from a family dispute among those with priestly rights at the temple.