THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board will make temple advisory committees more accountable on funds collected for festivals and other events. For this, the board plans to submit a proposal to the High Court to amend the by-law on temple advisory committees. The decision is in the wake of complaints over unscrupulous collection and fund management by advisory committees. Recently, the board had served notices on committees which failed to submit the mandatory audited accounts on events conducted. But only a few committees responded which points to legitimacy of the complaints, according to TDB president N Vasu.
Temple advisory committees in the 1248 temples under the TDB are to be formed as per the provisions of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. The committee will have 13 devotees living in the locality and two temple staffers.In the case of festivals conducted with public funding, the committee is allowed to spend only 90 per cent of the total amount. The remaining money should be kept in a joint account in the names of the committee president and the TDB’s sub-group officer. This has to be spent for development activities at the temple.Vasu said the proposed amendment will bring more transparency and accountability in fund management.
“We seek to address the lack of clarity on some provisions. The aim is ensure that the committees do not organise events without the consent of the board” he said. The amendment will also enable TDB to accept donations directly from sponsors of festival programmes. “Some misinterpreted our plan as the board was trying to stop arts and cultural programmes which is untrue. The only change is that sponsors will get an additional option to make direct payment to the TDB,” he said.