THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The audit report on the Global Ayyappa Sangamam submitted to the High Court had flaws, said Travancore Devaswom Board president K Jayakumar. A task force has been formed to rectify the anomalies and a final report will be submitted to the court before February 26.
“The report was submitted in haste as we had to meet the deadline fixed by the court. No affidavit was submitted along with the report. The board examined the report on Tuesday and found discrepancies in it. A task force has been formed to rectify them,” he told mediapersons here on Tuesday. According to the president, the board is to be blamed for the flaws, not the auditor.
“Normally, during an audit, the auditor would raise certain queries for which the client replies. Some replies would be accepted and others not. Unaccepted matters will remain as major objections. Such a procedure did not happen in our case. It is not the auditor’s fault but ours. It is our failure that we did not give timely replies to the queries,” he said.
Jayakumar said discrepancies occurred in the report due to many reasons.
“In some cases physical verification of bills was not done. Entries were not made in the assets register and validated in time. The board meeting has decided to rectify these mistakes on a war footing. The task force comprising the devaswom commissioner, accounts officer and chief engineer will hold discussions with the auditor,” he said.
“The report’s finding that Rs 8 lakh was paid to Nandagovindam Bhajans and that 4,000 persons took breakfast at the venue were based on wrong documents. The task force will examine these mistakes,” he said.
Jayakumar said the Sangamam’s expense, as approved by the previous board, was Rs 4.99 crore. The present board stands by this decision. The bills submitted by event management agency IIMC and others amount to `7.11 crore. They have been informed that additional payments will not be made.
The board had made an advance payment of Rs 3 crore for the event and it was recouped. The board could not get sufficient sponsorships to meet the entire expense. Rs 2.85 crore was received and Rs 1 crore is expected from the Adani Group. The board will not utilise its funds and it is taking efforts to get more sponsorships.
Women entry
Jayakumar refused to comment on the stand of the TDB on the women entry issue. An appropriate decision will be taken at the right time, he said.