Kochi: The temple advisory committee (TAC) of the Ernakulam Siva Temple has approached the high court seeking a directive to the temple’s devaswom officer to hand over the financial records relating to the 2026 temple festival to the TAC’s auditor for verifying the utilisation of the funds.
A bench of Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and K V Jayakumar on Tuesday sought instructions from the Cochin devaswom board on the petition and adjourned the matter for hearing to Oct 12. However, after the festival concluded, the devaswom informed the TAC that Rs 35 lakh remained payable towards festival-related liabilities. Since more than Rs 3 crore had been collected, the actual collections, expenditure and outstanding liabilities should be verified, according to the petitioners. Later, on Sept 7, the devaswom commissioner issued an order entrusting the board’s vigilance officer with an inquiry into the allegations and directed the devaswom officer to hand over the financial records to the TAC auditor.
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The festival was conducted with the active participation of the committee and the devaswom authorities, according to the TAC. It was also stated that the amounts collected by the TAC from devotees for conducting the festival were duly handed over to the devaswom officer. Despite the TAC seeking the relevant records, they were not fully made available for verification. With the directive not being complied with, the TAC moved the HC. Download the TOI App.