Supreme Court Dismissed The Petition Of PSTT Of Kerala

Supreme Court dismissed the petition of Padmanabhaswamy Temple Trust of Kerala, directs to complete the audit soon.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by the Padmanabhaswamy Temple Trust (created by the erstwhile Travancore royal family) seeking exemption from the court’s order last year.

The court had ordered to conduct a 25-year audit for the famous Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

The court said that the purpose of the special audit was not limited to the temple and the trust has also been included in it.

According to media, a bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said that the audit should be completed at the earliest.

The bench, also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi, said, “It is clear that the audit in respect of which was said was not confined to the temple only but was also in relation to the trust.”

This direction should be seen in the light of the report of the amicus curiae in the case registered in the 2015 order.

With regard to the second petition filed by the Trust to relieve it from the administrative supervision of the Administrative Committee constituted for the temple.

The Court observed that it required a factual analysis, and hence the issue was taken up with a competent authority was left for the consideration of the Court.

Therefore, the Supreme Court refrained from expressing anything on the second petition and left the matter to be decided by the competent court.

According to the report submitted by the administrative committee of the temple, according to which the temple is going through an unprecedented financial crisis and is unable to meet its monthly expenses.

The court has directed the special audit of the trust to be completed within three months.

The administrative committee has said that it is necessary to transfer the income of the trust to the temple.

Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for the committee, had said that all temples in Kerala are closed and the monthly expenditure of this temple is Rs 1.25 crore.

But we hardly get Rs 60-70 lakh, that’s why we have asked for some instructions.