KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday found that the awarding of the contract to the Indian Institute of Infrastructure and Construction (IIIC) for event management and infrastructure activities related to the Global Conclave of Ayyappa Devotees was done without inviting competitive quotations.
The court said, “Though, as per established procedures and manuals of the TDB, works and contracts are to be awarded through competitive quotations/tenders, the awarding of the contract to IIIC was done without inviting competitive quotations.”
The court observed that the financial discipline of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) leaves much to be desired. The records presently available indicate that substantial amounts have been committed and disbursed without vouchers and receipts and without sufficient clarity regarding the financial approvals obtained.
“There is serious slackness in recording the basis on which the expenditure was sanctioned and the safeguards adopted to ensure proper utilisation of funds. Such issues assume significance in the context of an institution entrusted with the administration of temple funds and contributions made by devotees,” the court said.
The magnitude of the amounts involved, the multiple sources from which funds were mobilised, and the manner in which advances appear to have been released without a transparent accounting framework prima facie indicate a disturbing lack of financial prudence and internal financial control.
The court pointed out that in their report, the auditors had mentioned that handing over the contract to IIIC was not in order. The auditors found that IIIC had further subcontracted substantial portions of the work to entities such as Neo Cochin Infrastructure Private Limited, Kerala Arts and Crafts Village, Kovalam, and Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society, without GST.
At the request of the auditor, consolidated bills from these subcontractors were produced. However, the auditors found that the programme schedule consisted of multiple independent activities and that the expenditure relating to various activities had been clubbed together in consolidated invoices and programme-wise expenditure statements. As a result, original supply-level verification could not be carried out.