The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear in open court review petitions challenging its verdict which allowed entry of women of all age groups into Sabarimala Temple.

A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra will hear the 49 review petitions on January 22 next year. However, the Apex Court has not ordered any stay on its earlier verdict allowing women entry into the hill shrine.

Earlier in the day, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi referred the bunch of review petitions before the five-judge bench.

The Bench said that the writ petitions will be heard subject to the decision of the review petitions filed against the Sabarimala verdict.

The writ petitions and review petitions were filed after the 28th September judgement of the Supreme Court which held that women irrespective of their age, have the right to enter the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala.