diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 001f4925b4c..8d7ddc5afad 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 * SOLR-13963: JavaBinCodec has concurrent modification of CharArr resulting in corrupt internode updates (Colvin Cowie, noble)
 
+* SOLR-13971: Velocity response writer's resource loading now possible only through startup parameters. Also, removed velocity 
+  response writer from _default configset. (Ishan Chattopadhyaya)
+
 ==================  8.3.0 ==================
 
 Consult the LUCENE_CHANGES.txt file for additional, low level, changes in this release.
diff --git a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
index 6279ee3dd11..7617649ed67 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
@@ -62,9 +62,11 @@ public class VelocityResponseWriter implements QueryResponseWriter, SolrCoreAwar
   // init param names, these are _only_ loaded at init time (no per-request control of these)
   //   - multiple different named writers could be created with different init params
   public static final String TEMPLATE_BASE_DIR = "template.base.dir";
+  public static final String PROPERTIES_FILE = "init.properties.file";
+
+  // System property names, these are _only_ loaded at node startup (no per-request control of these)
   public static final String PARAMS_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED = "params.resource.loader.enabled";
   public static final String SOLR_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED = "solr.resource.loader.enabled";
-  public static final String PROPERTIES_FILE = "init.properties.file";
 
   // request param names
   public static final String TEMPLATE = "v.template";
@@ -106,12 +108,12 @@ public class VelocityResponseWriter implements QueryResponseWriter, SolrCoreAwar
     }
 
     // params resource loader: off by default
-    Boolean prle = args.getBooleanArg(PARAMS_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED);
+    Boolean prle = Boolean.getBoolean(PARAMS_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED);
     paramsResourceLoaderEnabled = (null == prle ? false : prle);
 
-    // solr resource loader: on by default
-    Boolean srle = args.getBooleanArg(SOLR_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED);
-    solrResourceLoaderEnabled = (null == srle ? true : srle);
+    // solr resource loader: off by default
+    Boolean srle = Boolean.getBoolean(SOLR_RESOURCE_LOADER_ENABLED);
+    solrResourceLoaderEnabled = (null == srle ? false : srle);
 
     initPropertiesFileName = (String) args.get(PROPERTIES_FILE);
 
diff --git a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/test/org/apache/solr/velocity/VelocityResponseWriterTest.java b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/test/org/apache/solr/velocity/VelocityResponseWriterTest.java
index e36624e7226..f41ae5b046c 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/test/org/apache/solr/velocity/VelocityResponseWriterTest.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/test/org/apache/solr/velocity/VelocityResponseWriterTest.java
@@ -27,16 +27,25 @@ import org.apache.solr.response.QueryResponseWriter;
 import org.apache.solr.response.SolrParamResourceLoader;
 import org.apache.solr.response.SolrQueryResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.response.VelocityResponseWriter;
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class VelocityResponseWriterTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
   @BeforeClass
   public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
+    System.setProperty("params.resource.loader.enabled", "true");
+    System.setProperty("solr.resource.loader.enabled", "true");
     initCore("solrconfig.xml", "schema.xml", getFile("velocity/solr").getAbsolutePath());
     System.out.println(getFile("velocity/solr").getAbsolutePath());
   }
 
+  @AfterClass
+  public static void afterClass() throws Exception {
+    System.clearProperty("params.resource.loader.enabled");
+    System.clearProperty("solr.resource.loader.enabled");
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testVelocityResponseWriterRegistered() {
     QueryResponseWriter writer = h.getCore().getQueryResponseWriter("velocity");
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml b/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
index 33b25cd4e18..3af7d76cc58 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
+++ b/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
@@ -81,8 +81,6 @@
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/contrib/langid/lib/" regex=".*\.jar" />
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-langid-\d.*\.jar" />
 
-  <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/contrib/velocity/lib" regex=".*\.jar" />
-  <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-velocity-\d.*\.jar" />
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-ltr-\d.*\.jar" />
 
   <!-- an exact 'path' can be used instead of a 'dir' to specify a
@@ -789,7 +787,7 @@
        (SearchHandler) can be registered multiple times with different
        names (and different init parameters)
     -->
-  <requestHandler name="/browse" class="solr.SearchHandler" useParams="query,facets,velocity,browse">
+  <requestHandler name="/browse" class="solr.SearchHandler" useParams="query,facets,browse">
     <lst name="defaults">
       <str name="echoParams">explicit</str>
     </lst>
@@ -1299,15 +1297,6 @@
     <str name="content-type">text/plain; charset=UTF-8</str>
   </queryResponseWriter>
 
-  <!--
-     Custom response writers can be declared as needed...
-    -->
-  <queryResponseWriter name="velocity" class="solr.VelocityResponseWriter" startup="lazy">
-    <str name="template.base.dir">${velocity.template.base.dir:}</str>
-    <str name="solr.resource.loader.enabled">${velocity.solr.resource.loader.enabled:true}</str>
-    <str name="params.resource.loader.enabled">${velocity.params.resource.loader.enabled:false}</str>
-  </queryResponseWriter>
-
   <!-- XSLT response writer transforms the XML output by any xslt file found
        in Solr's conf/xslt directory.  Changes to xslt files are checked for
        every xsltCacheLifetimeSeconds.
diff --git a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml b/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
index 33b25cd4e18..3af7d76cc58 100644
--- a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
+++ b/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
@@ -81,8 +81,6 @@
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/contrib/langid/lib/" regex=".*\.jar" />
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-langid-\d.*\.jar" />
 
-  <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/contrib/velocity/lib" regex=".*\.jar" />
-  <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-velocity-\d.*\.jar" />
   <lib dir="${solr.install.dir:../../../..}/dist/" regex="solr-ltr-\d.*\.jar" />
 
   <!-- an exact 'path' can be used instead of a 'dir' to specify a
@@ -789,7 +787,7 @@
        (SearchHandler) can be registered multiple times with different
        names (and different init parameters)
     -->
-  <requestHandler name="/browse" class="solr.SearchHandler" useParams="query,facets,velocity,browse">
+  <requestHandler name="/browse" class="solr.SearchHandler" useParams="query,facets,browse">
     <lst name="defaults">
       <str name="echoParams">explicit</str>
     </lst>
@@ -1299,15 +1297,6 @@
     <str name="content-type">text/plain; charset=UTF-8</str>
   </queryResponseWriter>
 
-  <!--
-     Custom response writers can be declared as needed...
-    -->
-  <queryResponseWriter name="velocity" class="solr.VelocityResponseWriter" startup="lazy">
-    <str name="template.base.dir">${velocity.template.base.dir:}</str>
-    <str name="solr.resource.loader.enabled">${velocity.solr.resource.loader.enabled:true}</str>
-    <str name="params.resource.loader.enabled">${velocity.params.resource.loader.enabled:false}</str>
-  </queryResponseWriter>
-
   <!-- XSLT response writer transforms the XML output by any xslt file found
        in Solr's conf/xslt directory.  Changes to xslt files are checked for
        every xsltCacheLifetimeSeconds.
diff --git a/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/velocity-response-writer.adoc b/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/velocity-response-writer.adoc
index bc6da16cb72..8f1f9140e95 100644
--- a/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/velocity-response-writer.adoc
+++ b/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/velocity-response-writer.adoc
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@ Its JAR and dependencies must be added (via `<lib>` or solr/home lib inclusion),
 
 <!--
   <str name="init.properties.file">velocity-init.properties</str>
-  <bool name="params.resource.loader.enabled">true</bool>
-  <bool name="solr.resource.loader.enabled">false</bool>
   <lst name="tools">
     <str name="mytool">com.example.MyCustomTool</str>
   </lst>
@@ -36,16 +34,11 @@ Its JAR and dependencies must be added (via `<lib>` or solr/home lib inclusion),
 </queryResponseWriter>
 ----
 
-The above example shows the optional initialization and custom tool parameters used by VelocityResponseWriter; these are detailed in the following table. These initialization parameters are only specified in the writer registration in `solrconfig.xml`, not as request-time parameters. See further below for request-time parameters.
+The above example shows the optional initialization and custom tool parameters used by VelocityResponseWriter; these are detailed in the following table. These initialization parameters are only specified in the writer registration in `solrconfig.xml`, not as request-time parameters. In this example, all Solr nodes should be started with `-Dparams.resource.loader.enabled=true`. See further below for request-time parameters.
 
 == Configuration & Usage
 
-=== VelocityResponseWriter Initialization Parameters
-
-`template.base.dir`::
-If specified and exists as a file system directory, a file resource loader will be added for this directory. Templates in this directory will override "solr" resource loader templates.
-
-`init.properties.file`:: Specifies a properties file name which must exist in the Solr `conf/` directory (*not* under a `velocity/` subdirectory) or root of a JAR file in a <lib>.
+=== VelocityResponseWriter Startup Parameters
 
 `params.resource.loader.enabled`::
 The "params" resource loader allows templates to be specified in Solr request parameters. For example:
@@ -58,6 +51,13 @@ where `v.template=custom` says to render a template called "custom" and the valu
 `solr.resource.loader.enabled`::
 The "solr" resource loader is the only template loader registered by default. Templates are served from resources visible to the SolrResourceLoader under a `velocity/` subdirectory. The VelocityResponseWriter itself has some built-in templates (in its JAR file, under `velocity/`) that are available automatically through this loader. These built-in templates can be overridden when the same template name is in conf/velocity/ or by using the `template.base.dir` option.
 
+=== VelocityResponseWriter Initialization Parameters
+
+`template.base.dir`::
+If specified and exists as a file system directory, a file resource loader will be added for this directory. Templates in this directory will override "solr" resource loader templates.
+
+`init.properties.file`:: Specifies a properties file name which must exist in the Solr `conf/` directory (*not* under a `velocity/` subdirectory) or root of a JAR file in a <lib>.
+
 `tools`::
 External "tools" can be specified as list of string name/value (tool name / class name) pairs. Tools, in the Velocity context, are simply Java objects. Tool classes are constructed using a no-arg constructor (or a single-SolrCore-arg constructor if it exists) and added to the Velocity context with the specified name.
 +