New
Delhi:
The Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram will face an
audit of income and expenses for the past 25 years, the Supreme Court said
Wednesday.
A
three-member bench of Justice UU Lalit, Justice SR Bhat and Justice Bela M
Trivedi said the audit must include finances of both temple and trust and that
it should take place in three months' time.
Created
by the former Travancore royal family, the Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust had
moved the court seeking exemption from an audit ordered by the top court last
year.
The
trust argued that since it had been constituted (on earlier orders by the
court) only “to oversee the pujas and rituals of the Temple involving the
family, with no role in the administration”, it is a distinct entity from the
temple and could not be included in the call for an audit.
The
temple's administrative committee (headed by a district judge), however, argued
that the iconic religious structure is under great financial stress - with
donations and on-site collections below normal levels because of Covid - and
that the trust had evaded its duty to meet daily expenses.
The
court had been told the temple was “hardly getting ? 60-70 lakh (as against ?
1.25 crore in monthly expenses)” and needed financial contributions from the
trust. The administrative committee also claimed the trust had ? 2.8 crore in
cash and assets worth nearly ? 1.9 crore.
“The
entire thing has to be gone into... how much temple money the temple is with
the trust?”
The
trust's advocates then clarified that the objection was less to the audit than
the trust itself being “subjected to the administrative committee”.
On
Friday, after hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order.
Last
year, the court handed over administration of the temple to a committee from
the former Travancore royal family and ordered an audit of the temple's income
and expenses for 25 years.
The
firm so engaged had asked the trust to submit its income and expenditure
records.
The
trust then approached the court to counter this request.
Last
year legal heirs of the former ruler of Travancore challenged a Kerala High
Court judgment that said the family had no rights over the temple.
The
Supreme Court recognised 'shebait' rights, or rights of individuals who serve
the deity, but handed administration to the committee headed by a
Thiruvananthapuram district judge.
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