India News | SC Rejects Shree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust's Plea to Exempt It from Special Audit of 25 Yrs

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a plea filed by Shree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust (SPSTT), run by the Travancore royal family, seeking it be exempt from the special audit of 25 years as ordered by the top court last year.

The special audit should be completed as early as possible, preferably within three months, the apex court said.

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A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said it had initially directed special audit of the temple and its properties be conducted by Vinod Rai, former CAG, in response to the report of the senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who was appointed amicus curiae in the case on April 24, 2014.

The amicus had suggested an audit in his report from the financial year 1989-90 to 2013-14.

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Later, the order of May 5, 2015 recorded the submissions of senior advocate Arvind P Datar, appearing for SPSTT that it would not have any difficulty in cooperating with Rai in undertaking scrutiny of the audit reports and in conducting a fresh audit.

"It is quite clear that the audit contemplated by said direction was not intended to be confined to the Temple but was also with respect to SPSTT.

"This direction has to be seen in the light of the report dated April 15, 2014 of the amicus curiae and the submissions of Datar. Thus, the first prayer made in Miscellaneous Application No.1465 of 2021 deserves to be rejected," said the bench, also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi.

The apex court however refrained from passing any order on the plea of the Trust to exempt it from the administrative supervision of the Administrative Committee constituted by it saying that it requires factual analysis.

"The issue will require assessment of facts which analysis may appropriately be done by a Court or an authority competent to go into that question after the special audit," it said.

The top court said that it was certain that SPSTT will render complete cooperation in the conduct of the special audit.

The Administrative Committee of Shree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in a report had told the top court that it is facing a financial crisis, resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

In compliance with the guidelines / health advisories of the central and the state governments, the entry of devotees to the Temple was prohibited during the period from March 24, 2020 to August 25, 2020, it said.

"Anyhow, without any hindrance, the routine rituals and poojas were performed during the said period. There had been no flow of income to the Temple during the period of lockdown, but had to spend huge amounts for meeting the expenditure for performing routine rituals, salary, wages, pension, family pension etc. and other recurring expenses.

"The amounts accrued till the declaration of lockdown have almost been drained out. From August 26, 2020, the entry of devotees was resumed with restrictions observing COVID protocol. However, as a result of the situation prevailing, the income of the temple is meagre which is not even enough to meet the expenditure towards salary, wages, pension, family pension and other routine expenses," the committee said in its report.

Considering the financial position of the Temple, in the joint meeting held on October 11, 2020 it was resolved to address the government to grant time to return the amounts expended by the state government, the report said.

The Administrative Committee had on September 17 told the apex court that it is in great financial stress and the offerings are not sufficient to meet the expenses, while seeking an audit of the Trust.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the Trust, had argued that it is a public Trust made by the Royal family and has no role in administration. The Trust was just mentioned by the Amicus Curiae in the case, not as part of the petition, he said.

Datar had submitted that the Trust is a public trust started by the ruler and its objects are there inside the temple.

"Even the initial petitions never mentioned trust. The affairs were never the matter of litigation. We are an independent trust, and have our own trustees subject to our income tax regulations.

"We don't want the administrative committee to have a supervisory role over our trust. We will perform our job as a trust and if we don't perform we will lose our benefits under law. We were never part of the temple," Datar had said.

The top court had earlier set aside the 2011 verdict of the Kerala High Court which had directed the state government to set up a trust to take control of management and assets of the historic temple.

It had delivered the verdict on a batch of appeals, including the one filed by the legal representatives of the Travancore royal family, challenging the January 31, 2011 verdict of the high court in the matter.

It had directed the Administrative Committee to order an audit of the temple's income and expenses for the past 25 years, as suggested by amicus curiae senior advocate Gopal Subramanium.

The sprawling temple, an architectural splendour in granite, was rebuilt in its present form in the 18th century by the Travancore Royal House, which had ruled southern Kerala and some adjoining parts of Tamil Nadu before integration of the princely state with the Indian Union in 1947.

Even after India's independence, the temple continued to be governed by a trust controlled by the erstwhile royal family for whom Lord Padmanabha (Vishnu) is their family deity.

The high court had directed the state government to take steps to set up a body or trust to take control of the temple, its assets and management and to run the temple in accordance with the traditions.

SPSTT was created in the year 1965 by the then “Ruler of Travancore” Sree Chithira Thirunal Bala Rama Varma.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)