Kerala High Court Flags Irregularities In Accounting Of Ghee Sales In Sabarimala, Calls For Audit Dept Report
The Kerala High Court on Friday (March 14) noted serious irregularities in the accounting process related to Aadiya Sishtam Ghee sales in Sabarimala temple and directed the State Audit department to carry out an audit and place a detailed report before it.
The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar passed the order in a Devaswom Board Audit Report (DBAR) petition initiated on the basis of an interim report submitted by the Joint Director of the Kerala State Audit Department, Travancore Devaswom Board Audit Wing, after verification of Aadiya Sishtam ghee sales carried out during the recent Mandala-Makaravilakku season.
After perusing the report, the Court noted that audit was conducted by the department in four major phases covering ollection, preparation, distribution, sale, and remittance of Abhisheka Neyy Prasadam, Manjal Kumkumam, Vibhoothi, and Panchamrutham. The functioning of the Office of the Temple Special Officer at Sabarimala was also carried out.
The department's findings were that there was a financial shortfall of Rs. 25 lakhs.
The report had also marked that there were irregularities at the two ghee collection points and that no volumetric measurement of the quantity of ghee were carried out at the stage of collection, filtration, or post-filtration.
It was also particularly noted that there is no proper records regarding distribution of pouches to the sale counters and the same are being done in four unruled school notebook with illegible entries and, frequent corrections and omissions.
The audit department had then recommended for a full audit of all phases, i.e., preparation, distribution, sales and remittance, to assess the total misappropriation. It was also recommended that an extended audit be carried for the period from February to October 2025 to verify previous losses. Additionally, it was recommended that quarterly audit of monthly poojas can be carried out.
Further recommendations made include implementation of digital flow metres for volumetric Ghee measurement and an automatic numbering system for pouches; mandatory labelling on pouches to include packing date, batch number and expiry date; digitisation of temple accounts; periodic physical inspection by the Devaswom Vigilance officer; deployment of lower division clerks at sales counter; ensuring non-removal of residual ghee, etc.
The Devaswom Board told the Court that remedial measures are being undertaken and steps are being put in place for digitisation of temple accounts as per the directions issued in two other DBARs.
Considering all these, the Court ordered:
“Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, we direct the Audit Department to carry out the audit as sought for and to place a detailed report before this Court. Such a report will enable this Court to examine the irregularities pointed out in the audit findings and to ensure that appropriate corrective and remedial measures are taken without delay.”
Earlier, in a suo motu petition, the Court had flagged the embezzlement of around Rupees 35 lakhs in the sale of ghee at Sabarimala within a span of less than two months and directed Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to constitute a team to investigate into the same. It has also passed an order mandating a Standardised framework for Prasadam sales in the temple.
The Court yesterday ordered that the present DBAR and the afore suo motu petition be tagged together and posted on April 1 for further consideration.
Case No: DBAR No. 1 of 2026
Case Title: Joint Director v. Secretary