TIRUPATI: A day after Chief Secretary LV Subramanyam ordered an inquiry into the alleged lapses in transporting 1,381 kg gold from Chennai to Tirumala, TTD Executive Officer AK Singhal said the devasthanams was ready for any probe.
Speaking to mediapersons on Monday, he clarified that the responsibility of transporting the gold was with the Punjab National Bank where the TTD deposited it. Only once it reaches the treasury of the TTD, it would be its responsibility to protect the gold, he said. On April 17, Election Commission officials seized the gold in Tiruvallur, while it was being transported to Tirupati from Chennai.
The banks in which gold is deposited under gold deposit scheme or gold monetisation scheme get 1.5 percent as handling charges and 1 percent as commission from the Government of India. The handling charges include purity testing, refining, transportation, storage, and other costs.
“Hence the total responsibility of transporting gold back to the customer lies with the bank,” Singhal clarified.
Elaborating further, he said the TTD Board on April 1, 2000 decided to deposit gold with various nationalised banks under Gold Deposit Scheme considering overall benefit to the temple.
As on date, the TTD has deposited 9,259 kg gold of which 1,938 kg is with the Indian Overseas Bank, 5,387 kg with the State Bank of India and 1,381 kg with the Punjab National Bank while 553 kg is in the TTD treasury.
On April 18, 2016, the TTD deposited 1,311 kg gold with the PNB for a period of three years. Upon its maturity on April 18, 2019, the bank had to return over 1,381 kg gold (including the interest converted into gold) to the temple. “On March 27, we had written a letter to the PNB, stating that gold deposit with the bank matures on April 18 and the same should be handed over to the TTD treasure on the said date,” Singhal explained.
He further said that the letter was written to the PNB only after the TTD Board of Trustees Sub Committee on Finance asked the TTD in writing to have the gold deposited with the PNB back in the temple treasury after maturity period. The decision on what needed to be done with the gold would be taken by the TTD trust board in due course.
Singhal made it clear that other than the letter written to the PNB on March 27, there was no other communication with the bank. “There was no need for it, as the responsibility of bringing back the gold to the TTD treasury is with the bank. Whether the gold that was seized in Tiruvallur belongs to the TTD or not is immaterial and the TTD did not claim the ownership when asked by the Election Commission authorities. Only after the gold is deposited in the temple treasury, it’s TTD’s responsibility for its safety and security,” he asserted.
According to him, following the seizure of the gold in Tamil Nadu, the Income Tax department the following day served a notice on the TTD seeking clarification. A TTD official went to the I-T department in Chennai and showed them the letter written to the PNB on March 27 and did not claim the ownership. “On April 20, the TTD received 1,381 kg gold. The documents, weight and other related aspects were checked in the presence of TTD vigilance officials before it was placed in the TTD treasury,” Singhal said.
Later in the day, Special Chief Secretary (Revenue - Land and Endowment) Manmohan Singh, on the directions of Chief Secretary LV Subramanyam, conducted an inquiry into the entire episode of the gold transported to the TTD. PNB officials were also present. He will be submitting his report to the Chief Secretary on April 23.