Kerala State Audit Dept Reports Irregularities In Awarding Contracts, Finances Of Guruvayoor Devaswom; High Court Seeks Response From Board

The Division Bench of Justice Anil K.Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S. has granted two weeks' time to the Standing Counsel of the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board to obtain instructions on the affidavit. The matter has been posted to February 21, 2025.

The Deputy Director is responsible for verifying and reporting irregular or illegal expenditures, failures to recover owed amounts, or financial losses resulting from the authorities' negligence in the audit report, which is subsequently submitted to the Devaswom Commissioner.

The affidavit of the Senior Deputy Director was submitted in a writ petition filed by Dr Mahendra Kumar, who is a devotee of Lord Gurvayoorappan of Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple which is managed by the Guruvayoor Devaswom Managing Committee. The writ petition was filed in the year 2024 seeking the Guruvayoor Devaswom Managing Committee to produce reconciled account statements and to do the Audit of all the bank accounts of financial year 2022 and 2023 which was received by the Devaswom Commissioner. The writ petition was also filed seeking to re-introduce the Q system for the benefit of the devotees.

The affidavit stated that Guruvayoor Devaswom has fixed deposits of Rs. 1975.90 crores in various banks as on October 05, 2023.

It was stated that CCTV cameras were installed in and around the temple at a cost of Rs 5,08,13,491 under the PRASAD scheme of the Central Government. However, several defects were observed during the defect liability period, which the contractor failed to address. As a result, the Devaswom had to incur an additional expense of Rs 4,05,496 for various replacements.

The affidavit also states that the implementation of various software used in the Temple counter were not made available for auditing. It was stated that this would have helped the Auditing team to assess the accuracy and transparency of software services used in the Temple. It is stated that website and mobile applications of various software applications were also not subjected to security audit to ensure cyber security protocols, and was also not certified by IT expert committee of the Devaswom.

Another lacunae pointed out is that Annual Accounts of the Devaswom is still prepared in a customary manner.

The affidavit stated that the temple authorities, including the Temple Superintendent, Temple Manager, and Temple Deputy Administrator, have failed to ensure that the amounts received from the sale of gold and silver lockets at the temple, whether in cash or through digital transactions, were properly accounted for on a daily basis. The affidavit highlights a shortfall in the remittance of sale proceeds from gold lockets between 2019 and 2022, resulting in a total loss of Rs. 27,45,900. It further mentions that due to the delay in providing bank statements for auditing, the shortage of funds was not promptly addressed.

It was also stated that Devaswom authorities were not providing copies of bank statements on a weekly basis for auditing, thus affecting the verification of receipts and preparation of monthly accounts causing shortage of funds.

Another issue raised is the financial irregularities related to the project titled 'Construction of Panchajayam Annex', which is also pointed out in the audit report. The audit report had also suggested authorities for taking legal action against the Contractor for causing delay in completing the work. It is stated that the Devaswom has already paid rupees 87,27, 398 to the contractor and revenue recovery proceedings have been initiated to recover the loss to the Devaswom, which is now quantified to rupees 1, 11,97, 283. It is also submitted that records relating to quantifying the final loss was not produced for Auditing.

Case Title: DR. P S Mahendra Kumar V State Of Kerala

Case No: WP(C) 7426/2024