Plea Alleges Illegality In Mahindra Thar Auction At Guruvayoor: Kerala High Court Seeks Details From Devaswom Board

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday heard a plea alleging that the State auctioned a Mahindra Thar vehicle dedicated to the deity of Sree Krishna in Guruvayoor Temple in total violation of the provisions of the Gururvayoor Devaswom Act and the general principles of auction.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice P.G. Ajithkumar directed the Guruvayur Devaswom Board to produce the details of the Mahindra Thar including its price by the next hearing date. 

The petition moved by a Hindu trust through Advocate R. Krishna Raj contended that by auctioning the Thar offered by the Director of Mahindra Group to Lord Guruvayurappa, the deity of Guruvayur Temple, the Guruvayur Devaswom Board had perpetuated serious irregularity and illegality.

A day after Mahindra dedicated their brand new SUV to Lord Guruvayurappa, the Administrator apparently uploaded an auction notice on the Gruruvaryur Devaswom website inviting interested persons to bid.

The auction notice reportedly stated that the vehicle will be handed over to the successful bidder only after the approval of the Administrative Committee.

Based on this auction notice, one Subash Panicker participated in the auction and purchased it for Rs.15.10 Lakhs. The base price fixed by the Devaswom was Rs.15 Lakhs, whereas its actual price was Rs. 15,91000.

Subsequently, news reports revealed that Panicker attended the auction on behalf of one Amal Muhammed Ali. However, the vehicle has not been transferred to Ali yet.

The petitioner trust argued that the act of auctioning the vehicle to Ali was absolutely illegal.

According to the petitioner trust, no appropriate publicity was given to the auction as evident from the fact that only one purchaser turned up for auction. 

Similarly, since only one person had turned up, as per the established principles of bidding, the auction should have ideally been deferred and an attempted again after giving proper advertisement so that more public can attend it.

They further contended that the Devaswom Board President's reasoning for conducting the auction that it cannot use the off-road vehicle for daily purposes was absolutely wrong.

It was pointed out that an off-road vehicle only means that it can be used for off-road purposes also, and this will not make it unfit for daily use of the Devaswom.

"The reason stated by the Devaswom Board behind putting the vehicle for auction just a day after it was offered is just flimsy, illegal, wrong and false. The reason stated is that the Mahindra Thar Vehicle which was offered is an off-road vehicle that was not fit for daily use of the Devaswom Board. This decision was taken by the Devaswom Administrator without obtaining any technical advice from the experts of the field," reads the petition.  

Therefore, it was argued that the entire action of the auction was absolutely in violation of the provisions of the Guruvayur Devaswom Act since it was made forgoing several procedural technicalities. 

In fact, a joint reading of sections 11 and 17 of the Act shows that the Administrator has absolutely no independent power whatsoever to put the Mahindra Thar on auction.

However, it was obvious from the press releases of the Devaswom that the auction was conducted without prior sanction of the Devaswom Commissioner, the plea alleged.

Therefore, it was contended that the Administrator cannot make a decision on his own to put the vehicle offered to the temple on auction a day after it was offered to the temple, without exploring the possibility of using this vehicle by the Devaswom itself.

Accordingly, they sought to quash all proceedings in furtherance of the auction notice and the direct respondents not to hand over the Mahindra Thar. 

The matter will be taken up after two weeks.

Case Title: Hindu Seva Kendram v. State of Kerala