New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the rights of Travancore royal family in the administration of the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala.
After marathon hearings for last nine long years, a two-judge division bench comprising of Justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra passed the order upholding the rights of the royal family of Travancore.
The apex court today set aside the January 31, 2011 verdict of the Kerala High Court, which had asked the state government to set up a trust to take control of the temple.
Further, as an interim arrangement, the apex court approved the constitution of a committee headed by the district Judge of Thiruvananthapuram.
"Death does not affect the shebaitship of the royal family. A committee headed by the district judge of Thiruvananthapuram can be constituted as an interim arrangement," the bench said.
The hearing was on a petition by Maharaja Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma of the royal family seeking direction to dismantle the interim committee managing the administration and prayed to allow the royal family to take control over the temple as they did in the past.
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The matter dates back to 2009, when TP Sundarrajan, a retired IPS officer had approached the Kerala High Court. His Public Interest Litigation sought that the administration of the temple be transferred to the Kerala Government from the Royal Family.
However, the Kerala Government submitted to the High Court that there is no major mismanagement in the temple administration. The Kerala Government also argued that there is a traditional and customary belief that the temple belongs to the royal family.
Even as the Kerala Government argued in support of the royal family, the Kerala High Court in January 2011 ordered the state government to take over the administration of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple.
The High Court order restrained the entry of the temple's Executive Officer and Royal Family into the vaults (Kallaras). A committee headed by the district judge of Thiruvananthapuram was asked to manage the temple and its vaults.
The temple issue came to the limelight when the Supreme Court passed a direction in May 2011 to conduct a search operation in all the six vaults of the temple as there were speculations that the vaults (Kallaras) have precious ornaments and wealth.
When five out of six vaults were opened, Jewels, weapons, coins and other valuable materials to the tune of Rs 90,000 lakh crore were found in the temple.
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However, Vault-B was not opened and the materials have not been accessed till date. There is a myth that hooded King Cobras with forked tongues have been protecting the immense riches in the Vault–B.
The royal family had approached the Supreme Court in 2012. The Supreme Court had appointed senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam as the amicus curae for this case. After investigating the dispute, Subramaniam submitted a report before the Supreme Court alleging serious mismanagement in the temple.
After examining the report, the Supreme Court passed an interim order in April 2014, and constituted a committee headed by the Thiruvananthapuram district judge to monitor the temple and also directed former Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai to audit the properties of the temple.
Vinod Rai who audited the temple said that Vault-B was opened for several times in 1990 and 2002.
