The Supreme Court is all set to hear the case pertaining to the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, and its assets on Wednesday when it will consider the report submitted by amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam, according to which a gold plating machine and large amounts of unaccounted gold and silver were found inside the temple. The report has raised searching questions on the management of the shrine.
Gopal Subramaniam, in his over 500-page report submitted before the court, revealed shocking details on how ‘stealth’ is organised inside the temple by its own people holding top positions. The report pointed out how the Travancore royal family and the temple management never produced the original inventory of the shrine’s wealth and incorrectly maintained or did not maintain it for the past 30 years. It wanted the court to restrain the head of the royal family from interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the temple as its trustees.
“It appears that there has been large-scale breach of moral and fiduciary duties towards Sree Padmanabhaswamy and the temple, which is a public temple. It has been treated for all effects and purposes as a private fiefdom,” the report observed.
“It may be noted that there is a sad disconnect between those who worship the deities and those who administer. Those who administer are not unaware of the shastraa nor have they made any effort to inform themselves from the thantri the proper procedure and methodologies,” it said.
The amicus suggested a special audit by former CAG Vinod Rai, assisted by an RBI deputy governor, and urged the court to constitute a new committee that shall not have any member of the Travancore royal family. The report also said that though the trustees had opposed opening one of the vaults identified as Kallara-B, there had been eyewitness accounts of it being opened some years back.