SC paves way for audit of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple Trust

Thiruvananthapuram district judge heads the committee, which has been entrusted with the interim charge of running the temple following a July 2020 Supreme Court order

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said its order directing an audit of Kerala’s centuries-old Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple will include that of the shrine’s trust as well. It ordered the Administrative Committee entrusted with the audit to complete the exercise preferably within three months.

The Supreme Court. (HT archive)

A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and Bela M Trivedi passed the order on an application of the panel.

Thiruvananthapuram district judge heads the committee, which has been entrusted with the interim charge of running the temple following a July 2020 Supreme Court order.

The committee sought to audit the temple trust, run by the erstwhile Travancore royal family, citing serious financial difficulties in running the shrine’s affairs. According to the committee, the monthly expenses of the temple are about ₹1.25 crore, but it hardly manages to get ₹60-70 lakh. When it sought details of accounts from the trust, the latter moved the top court seeking clarification.

The bench said, “We have held that the order passed by this court on July 13, 2020, was not confined to the temple but also the trust in light of the report submitted by the amicus curiae and the submissions made on behalf of the trust.”

The Supreme Court in July 2020 set aside a Kerala high court order in 2011 allowing the state to take over the temple. It held the temple will be managed by the erstwhile royal family and will enjoy the rights of carrying out puja and other rituals. As an interim arrangement, the top court directed the constitution of the committee to manage the temple’s affairs. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, the amicus curiae, recommended the audit covering 25 years and the top court allowed it.

The committee interpreted this to mean audit of the temple and the trust. A private firm engaged by the committee for carrying out the audit asked the trust to submit income and expenditure details.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar, who represented the trust, told the Supreme Court the direction for audit concerned only the temple. The committee cited the amicus curiae’s report and added it said both the trust and the temple have to be audited. It added the trust had cash reserves of ₹2.8 crore and assets worth about ₹2 crore.