Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple: Supreme Court Extends Time For Special Audit Till 30th June

A Bench comprising Justice UU Lalit and Justice Ravindra Bhat granted the extension in pursuance of applications filed for extension of time by the Administrative Committee and the Advisory Committee of the Temple praying to grant further time up to 30th of June, 2022 to complete the Special Audit. 

The Bench has directed the matter to be listed next in the third week of July.

The Court had in September last year directed the Special Audit of the Trust to be completed preferably within 3 months.

In the light of the report submitted by the Administrative Committee of the Temple, as per which the Temple is going through unprecedented financial crisis and is unable to meet its monthly expenses, the Court had directed the Special Audit of the Trust to be completed preferably within 3 months. The Administrative Committee has said that it is necessary to transfer the income of the Trust to the Temple.

The Supreme Court had also rejected an application filed by the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust (which is created by the erstwhile Travancore Royal Family) to exempt it from the special audit. The Court had said that the special audit was intended not to be confined to the Temple and included the Trust as well.

Background

In 2020, the Supreme Court had handed over the administration of the temple from the erstwhile Travancore Royal Family to an Administrative Committee headed by the District Judge of Thiruvananthapuram.

Also, the Court had directed the Administrative Committee to order an audit of the temple's income and expenses for the past 25 years, as suggested by amicus curiae Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium. The audit shall be conducted by a firm of reputed Chartered Accountants.

The private CA firm engaged for the audit had asked the Trust to submit the income and expenditure records following this. In this backdrop, the Trust had approached the Supreme Court, arguing that they were an independent institution formed in 1965 to conduct the religious rituals of the temple and that they have no role in the day-to-day administration of the temple.

A bench comprising Justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra (since retired) had passed the direction in 2020 in a special leave petition filed by the legal heirs of the ex-Travancore Ruler challenging a Kerala High Court judgment which declared that the royal family has no rights over the temple. The Supreme Court recognized the "shebait" rights of the ex-royal family but handed over the administration to the Administrative Committee, which was to be headed by the District Judge of Thiruvananthapuram. The Court had also directed the temple to repay to the State Government amount to the tune of Rs 11.70 Crores expended by the State for the security and maintenance of the Temple.

Case Title: Sri Marthanda Varma(D) Through LRs v. The State of Kerala, MA 57,58/2022