NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has appointed a five-member interim committee to take charge of the administration of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. Thiruvananthapuram District Judge will chair the administrative committee. If the District Judge is a non-Hindu, next top judicial officer in the district will be have to chair the committee.
No Royal family members are included in the committee, while temple’s nambi and tantri (top temple priests) are in the committee. The District judge will choose the other two members.
“The key of the temple vaults should be handed over to the District judge. Travancore Royal family member Moolam Thirunal Ramavarma can continue as Temple Trust member,” instructed Divison bench comprising Justices A K Patnaik and R M Lodha.
K N Satheesh IAS will be the new Executive officer of the temple. A team headed by former CAG Vinod Rai will examine the income and expense of the temple. CAG can recommend the names of other team members.
Every Saturday, the money in hundies should be counted and accounted. The accounts of the last 25 years should be audited by Vinod Rai. The court also gave specific instructions that the wealth or properties of the temple should not sold off or handed over to another person.
The Supreme Court dismissed all the three names recommended by the government for the administrative panel. The names suggested were Additional Chief Secretary P Hariharan, ADGP A Hemachandran, and Devaswom Secretary K R Jyothilal. But these names were opposed by the amicus curiae.
Amicus curiae Gopala Subramanyam was squarely opposed to making Jyothilal a member, saying that he was responsible for the present despicable state of Padmatheertham and Mithranandapuram pond.
A Hemachandran’s name was opposed by Travancore Royal family member themselves. And, thus the court decided to avoid all the three names.
No comments:
Post a Comment