The Supreme Court on Thursday directed former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai to conduct a special audit of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala after a report by Amicus Curiae showed grave lapses in accounting of gold, silver and cash stored in the temple.
Noting “disturbing events” in the administration of the 1000-year old temple which shot to fame after discovery of large quantities of gold, silver and precious stones in the locked temple vaults, the court ordered the keys of the vaults to be handed over to the Trivandrum District Judge. It ordered a five-member committee headed by District Judge to be incharge of daily activities of the temple and restrained the royal family, who are trustees of temple property, from selling or alienating the temple lands.
What triggered the Court to order removal of the present Administration Committee and Executive Officer was a damning report by the amicus and senior advocate Gopal Subramanium. After a 35-day stay at the temple, Subramanium termed the state of affairs at the site “pitiable”. He suggested a special audit, removal of Executive Officer, reconstitution of Administration Committee, non-accounting of gold and silver articles, cleanliness and repair of the temple walls and deity idols, and misuse of cash deposited in the offertory.
The royal family represented by senior advocate KK Venugopal opposed the amicus’ suggestions to remove the Executive Officer and demanded that he be afforded a personal hearing before being removed. The Bench of Justices RM lodha and AK Patnaik responded by asking Venugopal if the state of affairs was indeed good at the temple. “You are the trustee. You appointed the Executive Officer and they have failed very badly… If we are to give him personal opportunity to mismanage and then come to us after six months, then God save this country.”
The Court directed Satish Kumar, currently the Director of Higher Secondary Education in Kerala, to take over as Executive Officer, after the state backed the suggestion following his extensive experience during his earlier stint with management of Guruvayoor Temple.The Court clarified that in the event District Judge is not a Hindu, the senior most judicial officer would take over as Chairman of the Committee. The Committee would also comprise of the ‘Tantri’ of the temple, the Chief Nambi (priest), and two members co-opted by Chairman of which one would be nominated by the state government.
The Court directed the Committee to immediately start functioning and address issues of cleanliness, protection of vaults, collection of offertory every Saturday, and living conditions of security personnel guarding the temple. At the request of the royal family, the Court noted in the order that the previous Executive Officer has voluntarily gone on leave for four months. The Court further observed that the trustees would be consulted by the new Committee on important matters and where the former concurred, the liability of the said action/decision would fall on the family.