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Travancore Devaswom Board

The Travancore Devaswom Board is a statutory autonomous body constituted under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act XV of 1950 to administer Hindu temples in the districts of Kerala formerly comprising the princely state of Travancore.^[1] It was formed pursuant to a covenant executed by the Maharaja of Travancore in 1949, guaranteed by the Government of India following the integration of Travancore and Cochin states, transferring temple management from royal oversight to this dedicated entity.^[1] The board oversees 1,248 temples, handling their endowment properties, ritual conduct, revenue collection, and maintenance, with operations headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram.^[1]^[2] Among its responsibilities, the board ensures the performance of traditional Hindu worship practices, pilgrim welfare, infrastructure development around temple vicinities, and staff employment across these institutions, deriving primary revenue from high-traffic sites to subsidize less endowed ones.^[1] The Sabarimala Sri Ayyappa Temple, a key asset under its purview, draws millions of male devotees annually for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage, generating substantial funds—such as over ₹340 crore in a recent fiscal year—that support broader operations, though most temples operate at a deficit reliant on cross-subsidization.^[3] Governance involves a president and two members, with appointments blending government nomination and legislative election among Hindu representatives, serving three-year terms to balance administrative efficiency with community ties.^[1] The board has encountered notable challenges, including financial mismanagement allegations, such as the 2025 Sabarimala gold misappropriation case involving staff and missing records, prompting police investigations and calls for structural reforms to enhance professionalism and accountability.^[4]^[5] It also navigated intense disputes over temple access, exemplified by the Sabarimala controversy where enforcement of a 2018 Supreme Court ruling permitting women entry clashed with longstanding traditions barring post-pubescent females, leading to widespread devotee protests and affirming the board's pivotal role in reconciling legal mandates with religious customs.^[6]^[7]

Historical Origins

Pre-Colonial and Kingdom-Era Devaswoms

The devaswom system in Travancore emerged from traditional land endowments known as devaswom lands, granted to temples for their maintenance and rituals, with revenues derived from leasing these agrarian properties to tenants whose periodic rents sustained temple operations.^[8] An early inscription from the 11th century at the Kanyakumari temple records devadanam villages dedicated for such purposes, illustrating the system's antiquity in the region later consolidated under Travancore rule.^[8] From the 18th century, Maharaja Marthanda Varma (r. 1729–1758), founder of modern Travancore, expanded this framework by dedicating the kingdom to the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in 1750, positioning subsequent maharajas as hereditary trustees responsible for overseeing temple assets and ensuring ritual adherence without personal appropriation.^[9] Royal trusteeship emphasized financial self-sufficiency through devaswom revenues, primarily from paddy fields and coconut groves, which funded priestly services, festivals, and repairs while palace archives document meticulous audits to preserve endowments' integrity.^[8] Prior to centralized reforms in 1811, individual temple committees—often comprising local Brahmin trustees under royal supervision—managed these lands and properties, maintaining autonomy in daily affairs while the maharaja intervened to resolve disputes or enforce orthodoxy. This structure prioritized causal links between land productivity and temple perpetuity, with empirical records from Travancore's revenue settlements verifying yields supporting over 300 major temples by the early 19th century.^[8] Tensions arose in the 19th century from Christian missionary activities, which challenged temple endowments through conversions and land encroachments, prompting maharajas to reinforce protections via state edicts without yielding to external oversight.^[10] By the 1930s, internal princely reforms addressed perceived administrative excesses, such as overlapping revenue controls, by establishing a separate Devaswom Department in 1922 to streamline management and limit discretionary fund diversions, preserving royal authority amid growing demands for accountability. These measures, including regulatory frameworks like the 1934 inquiries into temple governance, focused on curbing inefficiencies through localized committees rather than foreign intervention, as reflected in state proclamations emphasizing devotee involvement and fiscal transparency.^[11]

Transition During British Influence and Early 20th Century Reforms

During the period of British paramountcy over Travancore, a princely state, the absolute royal trusteeship of devaswoms—Hindu temple endowments and properties—faced pressures for reform due to recurring instances of mismanagement and embezzlement by officials, prompting a gradual shift toward structured oversight mechanisms. Influenced by British colonial legislation such as the Madras Religious Endowments and Escheats Regulation of 1817, which established committees to supervise endowments and prevent fund diversion, Travancore authorities introduced analogous measures to enhance administrative efficiency while retaining monarchical control. These early interventions addressed causal factors like opaque accounting and elite capture of temple revenues, though implementation remained limited by the state's internal sovereignty.^[12] By the early 20th century, escalating complaints of corruption in temple administration necessitated more formalized regulations. The Hindu Religious Endowments Regulation III of 1079 M.E. (corresponding to 1903–1904 C.E.) authorized government intervention in non-Sirkar (non-state) endowments showing evidence of mismanagement, allowing for audits and corrective actions to safeguard assets from embezzlement. This marked a pivotal step in privileging empirical verification over unchecked royal discretion, driven by documented irregularities in revenue handling and property upkeep. In the late 1920s, the Devaswom Department escalated accountability efforts; for instance, in the fiscal year 1928–1929, assistant commissioners audited accounts across 21 smaller devaswoms, while special officers verified temple jewels (tiruvabharanams) at sites like Chengannur to detect discrepancies. Such audits, supported by a dedicated Devaswom Fund with receipts exceeding Rs. 17.74 lakh that year, reflected pragmatic responses to fiscal leakages amid growing public scrutiny.^[13]^[13] The 1930s witnessed further evolution under Maharaja Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, who assumed direct rule in 1931 following regency, amid the Great Depression's economic strains that strained state finances and highlighted the risks of commingling temple revenues with royal treasuries. Reforms emphasized semi-autonomous models, building on historical distinctions between temple-specific allotments (sreepandaravagai) and state revenues (pandaravagai) to insulate devaswom funds from broader fiscal pressures, thereby fostering dedicated management for rituals and maintenance. These changes, motivated by causal necessities of sustainability rather than ideology, provoked resistance from orthodox Hindu factions who viewed committee-based oversight and fund segregation as dilutions of traditional custodial authority vested in the ruler as divine representative. This tension foreshadowed enduring debates on balancing efficiency with cultural continuity, setting precedents for post-independence devaswom autonomy.^[14]^[15]

Establishment and Legal Framework

Formation Under Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950

The Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950 (Act XV of 1950) was enacted by the legislature of the newly formed United State of Travancore-Cochin to establish a statutory framework for the administration, supervision, and control of incorporated and unincorporated devaswoms, as well as Hindu religious endowments and their properties.^[16] Coming into force immediately upon assent, the Act vested these responsibilities in the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), an autonomous body designed to replace the fragmented princely-era devaswom systems with a centralized entity capable of unified oversight.^[16] This legislative measure addressed practical challenges arising from the merger of Travancore and Cochin on July 1, 1949, which necessitated consolidated management of temple assets previously handled separately by royal administrations.^[17] Under Section 3 of the Act, the administration of devaswoms and endowments transferred to the TDB, empowering it with authority for direction, control, and supervision over approximately 1,200 temples and associated properties, including endowment management and revenue handling.^[16]^[1] Section 15 further delineated the Board's operational independence, allowing it to oversee daily temple functions, repairs, and utilization of funds without direct state intervention, thereby balancing oversight with preservation of religious autonomy in a post-independence secular context.^[16] These provisions reflected an empirical rationale for streamlining administration amid the 1949 merger's disruptions, avoiding the inefficiencies of prior royal controls while preventing full governmental takeover.^[17] The initial constitution of the TDB under Section 4 specified a compact board of three Hindu members, with nominations including representation from the former rulers to incorporate expertise from hereditary trustees and ensure cultural continuity during the transition to state-level governance.^[18] This structure prioritized qualified residents of the state, as outlined in Section 6, to maintain institutional knowledge from princely devaswoms while adapting to the unified state's needs.^[17] The Act's design thus formalized the Board's role as an intermediary entity, insulating temple operations from political fluctuations and emphasizing self-sustaining management justified by the scale of assets involved.^[16]

Integration with Indian Constitution and Merger Covenant Implications

The Instrument of Accession signed by the Maharaja of Travancore on July 30, 1947, integrated the princely state into the Indian Union, ceding control over internal affairs, including religious endowments, to the central authority while allowing for continuation of local administrative structures like devaswoms under the emerging federal system.^[19] The subsequent Covenant of May 1949 between the rulers of Travancore and Cochin, concurred and guaranteed by the Government of India, formalized the merger into the United State of Travancore-Cochin effective July 1, 1949, and explicitly provided for the establishment of the Travancore Devaswom Board to oversee Hindu religious institutions, ensuring structured management insulated from arbitrary executive overreach.^[20] This framework reflected an intent to preserve the sanctity of temple governance rooted in traditional custodianship, adapting princely-era devaswom autonomy to constitutional federalism without immediate dissolution into direct state bureaucracy. The Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, implemented the covenant's provisions by constituting the TDB as a statutory body with oversight of incorporated and unincorporated devaswoms, their properties, and funds, vesting administrative powers in a nominated board to represent Hindu interests while subjecting it to governmental supervision.^[16] Critics, including voices in legal commentary on temple autonomy, argue that the Act's reliance on government nominations for board membership—typically two-thirds of seats allocated via state recommendation—introduces political leverage, diverging from the covenant's implied buffer against partisan interference in core religious affairs and eroding the original devotee-sovereign model where rulers acted as nominal servants of the deity.^[21] This tension underscores causal dynamics where merger assurances of preserved sanctity yielded to legislative realities prioritizing regulatory uniformity, potentially enabling executive influence over ritual and asset decisions historically shielded from electoral politics. Article 26 of the Indian Constitution enshrines the right of religious denominations to establish and manage institutions for religious and charitable purposes, subject to public order, morality, and health, yet the TDB's framework exemplifies a unique subjection of Hindu endowments to state-nominated governance, contrasting with the relative independence of non-Hindu bodies such as Christian churches or Islamic waqfs, which face no analogous mandatory boards or nomination processes.^[22] Judicial scrutiny, as in N. Adithayan v. Travancore Devaswom Board (2002), has affirmed state regulatory powers over secular aspects like appointments and finances without infringing essential religious practices, but empirical disparities persist: the TDB administers over 1,250 temples with annual revenues exceeding ₹1,000 crore under mandatory state audits, while minority institutions self-regulate without equivalent fiscal oversight.^[23]^[20] Post-1950 implementation marked empirical shifts toward intensified state integration, with the Act mandating detailed annual accounts submission and audits by a government-appointed Examiner of Local Fund Accounts, expanding scrutiny of temple incomes—derived primarily from devotee offerings and land revenues—beyond the pre-merger era's limited royal oversight.^[16] This mechanism, intended for fiscal accountability, has resulted in documented escalations in audit objections and government directives on expenditures, from ritual funding to asset maintenance, progressively aligning temple operations with public finance norms and diluting the covenant-era emphasis on insular, faith-driven administration.^[24] Such evolutions highlight causal trade-offs: enhanced transparency mitigated historical mismanagement risks but fostered bureaucratic layers that, per analyses of endowment laws, inadvertently prioritized state fiscal interests over unmediated devotee priorities embedded in the merger's foundational intent.^[25]

Governance Structure

Board Composition and Nomination Process

The Travancore Devaswom Board consists of a president and two members, all nominated by the Kerala state government under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, as amended.^[18] Qualifications for nomination require candidates to be permanent residents of Kerala professing the Hindu religion, believers in God and temple worship, and typically aged between 45 and 70 years for males following recent amendments, with no explicit mandate for religious scholarship or hereditary ties but an emphasis on administrative competence.^[26]^[27] This structure supplanted earlier provisions under the 1950 Act, which included one nomination by the Travancore ruler (later transferred to the Council of Ministers) and partial election by legislative members, reducing hereditary trustee influence that had persisted in pre-independence devaswom management.^[17] Nominations are executed by the Devasom Minister on behalf of the Council of Ministers, with the president selected from the ruling coalition and members often allocated to reflect alliance shares, such as one from the primary ruling party and one from a coalition partner or opposition for nominal balance.^[28] Tenure is fixed at two years following a 2017 amendment shortening it from three years to enhance accountability, though extensions via ordinance have occurred amid political disputes, as seen in proposals debated in 2025 to prolong the current board's term by one year.^[29]^[30] Board reconstitution aligns closely with state assembly election outcomes, with full replacement upon government change, as evidenced by shifts from United Democratic Front (UDF) nominees in 2015 to Left Democratic Front (LDF) appointees post-2016.^[31] Since the LDF's electoral victory in May 2016, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist (CPI(M)), board leadership has exhibited consistent CPI(M) dominance, with presidents such as K. Ananthagopan (2016) and P.S. Prasanth (current as of 2025), both CPI(M) affiliates, alongside members from LDF allies like the Communist Party of India.^[32]^[33] This pattern prioritizes political loyalty over specialized religious or managerial metrics, as nominees frequently hold prior party roles—Prasanth, for instance, transitioned from Congress district leadership to CPI(M)—correlating turnover with electoral cycles rather than performance evaluations or scandals.^[33] Such appointments, while statutorily neutral, enable ruling coalition capture, diminishing emphasis on traditional devaswom custodianship in favor of administrative alignment with state priorities.^[34]

Administrative Hierarchy and Decision-Making

The Travancore Devaswom Board operates through a multi-tiered administrative hierarchy, with the governing Board at the apex, comprising three Hindu members including a President, one nominated by the government, and one elected, functioning as a body corporate responsible for policy oversight.^[35] Beneath the Board, the Devaswom Commissioner serves as the chief executive, implementing resolutions and managing day-to-day operations, supported by Deputy Devaswom Commissioners handling administration, inspections, and grievances.^[35]^[36] Further layers include District Deputy Devaswom Commissioners for regional temple management, Group Assistant Devaswom Commissioners overseeing sub-groups as basic operational units, and Temple Advisory Committees providing localized oversight at individual temples.^[35] Specialized roles, such as a Chief Engineer in the Works Department and multiple Executive Engineers for estate and infrastructure divisions, handle technical staffing needs.^[36] Decision-making follows a centralized process, with the Board approving major expenditures, budgets, and projects through resolutions, often requiring circulation of notes by the Secretary to relevant functionaries for input before finalization.^[35] The Commissioner sanctions routine operational activities and implements Board directives, while larger works exceeding ₹10 lakhs necessitate High Court approval, and those between ₹5-10 lakhs require Ombudsman clearance, ensuring judicial oversight but embedding additional procedural steps.^[35] Temple Advisory Committees contribute to local decisions on festivals and funds, limited to statutory roles under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act.^[37] In practice, this hierarchy's multiple layers contribute to inefficiencies, as evidenced by Kerala State Audit Department reports documenting inordinate delays in furnishing annual accounts, sanction reviews, and internal inspections, alongside pending audits spanning over a decade.^[38]^[39] Centralized control exacerbates approval bottlenecks for expenditures and tenders, prompting High Court directives in 2025 for a unified digital financial system to mitigate supervisory lapses and remittance delays in collections.^[40] Staffing data reveals operational strains, such as 67 establishment wing personnel and 420 Class IV employees deployed for peak duties at key sites like Sabarimala, underscoring the burden of layered bureaucracy without proportional efficiency gains.^[41] These mechanisms, while intended for accountability, have been critiqued in judicial observations for fostering procedural rigidity that inflates administrative costs through redundant verification steps, as inferred from recurrent audit-flagged irregularities in fund handling.^[35]^[4]

Operational Roles and Responsibilities

Temple Administration and Ritual Oversight

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) oversees the daily conduct of poojas and festivals across its 1,248 temples, ensuring adherence to Kerala-specific Tantric ritual protocols derived from traditional texts like the Tantrasamuccaya.^[1]^[42] These include saanthi kriyas—routine worship sequences for invoking divine presence and devotee welfare—and annual events such as arattu processions, where deities are ritually bathed in temple tanks.^[43] The board coordinates staffing for these operations, appointing approximately 6,200 employees, including priests trained at approved institutions emphasizing Tantric vidya, to maintain ritual purity amid varying scales of attendance.^[44]^[45] Priest selection by the TDB prioritizes qualifications in ritual performance over hereditary caste or lineage, as affirmed by the Kerala High Court in 2025, which ruled such restrictions non-essential to religious practice.^[46] Appointments involve board approval of candidates from recognized thanthra vidyalayas, enabling inclusions from diverse communities like Scheduled Castes and Tribes since 2017 and 2020, respectively, while upholding core Tantric competencies.^[47]^[48] The board issues directives to priests for consistent ritual execution, such as improving pooja efficiency, and enforces thanthri oversight to correct deviations.^[49] Infrastructure upkeep, including temple tanks (kalyanis) and tower gateways (gopurams), falls under TDB's purview, funded primarily by devotee hundi collections and land-derived income, with tenders issued for structural repairs as needed.^[50] This maintenance adapts ancient designs to contemporary demands, incorporating digital tracking for assets while preserving ritual sanctity. The TDB enforces entry protocols rooted in tradition, notably at Sabarimala, where pilgrims must observe the 41-day vratham—austerities including celibacy, vegetarianism, and black attire—verified through checks on irumudikettu offerings and conduct.^[52]^[53] Balancing these with logistics, the board implements crowd controls like phased darshan quotas and shelter provisions during peak Mandala seasons, drawing millions annually, as directed by court orders to safeguard customs.^[54]^[55] Circulars prohibit non-ritual activities, such as political events, to preserve devotional focus.^[56]

Asset Management and Financial Controls

The Travancore Devaswom Board manages extensive immovable assets, including temple lands subject to encroachments totaling approximately 494 acres within Kerala as reported in state assembly proceedings.^[57] Movable assets encompass gold ornaments, jewels, and daily hundi collections from devotees, with annual revenues from offerings exceeding Rs 683 crore as recorded for the 2017-18 fiscal year, largely driven by major temples like Sabarimala contributing over Rs 342 crore in that period.^[58] These inflows fund operational budgets surpassing Rs 500 crore annually, primarily from cash donations, gold offerings, and related sales, though precise tracking of inflows relies on temple-specific ledgers submitted to the Board.^[59] Financial controls are governed by the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, which mandates periodic audits by the Kerala State Audit Department to verify accounts and remedy irregularities identified in reports.^[38] Prior to recent digitization efforts, reliance on manual ledgers for recording transactions created empirical gaps, particularly in inventorying movable assets like gold, where physical verification against records has historically proven inconsistent.^[40] The Travancore Devaswom Audit Rules, 1953, further require controlling officers to ensure timely submission of accounts and returns, yet audits have repeatedly highlighted discrepancies in asset documentation, underscoring vulnerabilities in real-time outflow monitoring.^[60] Revenues are allocated for temple maintenance, rituals, and specified welfare initiatives, including educational scholarships funded from endowment surpluses, as permitted under the Act's provisions for charitable endowments.^[16] However, such diversions to non-core purposes, often influenced by state directives, have drawn criticism for prioritizing external welfare over asset preservation, with budget allotments lapsing annually if unutilized, potentially exposing funds to inefficient redistribution.^[28] These mechanisms, while providing oversight, reveal systemic risks of diversion due to opaque manual processes and limited independent verification of high-value assets like jewels, prompting ongoing shifts toward digital inventory systems.

Key Temples and Assets Managed

Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple

The Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, India, serves as the flagship asset under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which oversees its daily administration, ritual conduct, and infrastructure maintenance. Dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, the temple attracts Hindu pilgrims observing a 41-day vow of austerity, making it one of India's most significant pilgrimage sites by devotee volume. During the 2024-25 Mandala-Makaravilakku season, approximately 5.31 million devotees visited, surpassing the previous year's 4.6 million and underscoring its scale despite regulatory caps on daily entries to manage crowds and terrain challenges.^[61]^[62] Economically, the temple generates the majority of TDB's revenue, contributing nearly ₹600 crore annually through devotee offerings, prasadam sales, and related services, far outpacing other board-managed properties. In the 2024-25 season alone, it earned a record ₹440 crore, with over ₹200 crore from Aravana—a sacred payasam prasadam—sold at ₹40 per 250 ml packet, alongside income from other items like Appam and Ayyappachakram.^[63]^[64]^[65] Darshan fees play a lesser role under the virtual queue system, but aggregate hundi collections and asset monetization bolster TDB's funds for temple upkeep and subsidiary institutions. This revenue stream highlights the temple's pivotal role in sustaining TDB's operations across 1,300+ properties, though it has drawn scrutiny for opaque accounting amid recent asset discrepancies.^[66] Key physical assets include the sanctum sanctorum housing the 18th-century idol of Lord Ayyappa in a yoga pose, flanked by idols of flanking deities Vavar and Malikapuram, and the revered Pathinettampadi—18 sacred granite steps devotees ascend barefoot after ritual purification. TDB manages extensive gold and silver reserves from perpetual devotee donations, adding 20-25 kg of gold and 120-150 kg of silver yearly; historical accretions include 30.3 kg of 24-carat gold donated in 1998-99 for idol cladding.^[67]^[68] Expansions in the 1990s involved this cladding to enhance idol durability, while 2010s initiatives focused on peripheral structures under a master plan addressing overcrowding, though these sparked ecological debates over deforestation and waste in the sensitive Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.^[69] TDB balances modernization with tradition by investing in infrastructure like the 2.7 km Pampa-Sannidhanam ropeway project, estimated at ₹250 crore and slated for completion by 2026, primarily for goods transport to alleviate porter loads on the 4-5 km trekking paths.^[70]^[71] Maintenance of routes such as Neelimala involves periodic stone flaming for grip and closures for erosion control, preserving the arduous climb central to Ayyappa's ascetic ethos while mitigating environmental strain from pilgrim traffic—estimated to generate substantial waste and trail degradation annually.^[72]^[73] These efforts reflect TDB's mandate to sustain cultural rituals amid growing pressures, though proposals have faced resistance from traditionalists prioritizing the pilgrimage's physical rigor.

Other Prominent Temples and Properties

The Travancore Devaswom Board administers 1,248 temples across southern Kerala districts, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Pathanamthitta, encompassing a diverse array of shrines dedicated to deities such as Shiva, Vishnu, and regional forms of Sastha.^[1] These holdings extend to associated agricultural lands yielding rental revenues, primarily from paddy fields and coconut groves, though encroachments have prompted reclamation efforts since at least 2018.^[74] Prominent secondary temples include the Kulathupuzha Sastha Temple in Kollam district, managed for annual festivals and endowments linked to pilgrimage circuits, and the Achankovil Sastha Temple, similarly administered with community offerings tied to local traditions.^[75] ^[76] Other significant sites under Board oversight are the Chettikulangara Devi Temple and Malayalapuzha Temple, which generate notable non-pilgrimage revenues through devotee contributions.^[4] Aggregate property data reveals assets including thousands of acres of endowed lands, contributing to overall Board revenues that reached approximately ₹5,809 crore in 2015-16, with property rents forming a portion alongside offerings; however, audits highlight underutilization, as only 83 of the temples reported revenues exceeding expenses as of 2016.^[38] ^[77] Specific current valuations of lands remain undisclosed in public records, underscoring ongoing critiques of inefficient asset management despite their potential for higher agricultural yields.^[78]

Controversies and Criticisms

Historical Mismanagement and Corruption Cases

In the late 2000s, audits conducted by the Travancore Devaswom Board's (TDB) accounts and audit wing, along with external auditors, revealed significant irregularities in sub-devaswoms, including unauthorized diversions of funds and failure to recover embezzled amounts. At Kottarakkara Maha Ganapati Temple, a former administrative officer embezzled Rs 9.45 lakhs from devaswom funds, a theft detected in 2008 but unresolved without disciplinary action until intervention by the Ombudsman in 2010, who ordered recovery including interest.^[79] Similar lapses occurred at Chaliyar Narayanapuram Temple, where an administrative officer substituted precious temple ornaments (Thiruvabharanam) with inferior items during 2008-09, yet no corrective measures were implemented despite audit flags.^[79] These cases exemplified broader patterns of revenue erosion across TDB's 1,210 temples, attributed to inadequate internal oversight and delayed vigilance responses. During the 2008 Sabarimala pilgrim season, a former executive officer misappropriated approximately Rs 2 crore through bogus vouchers and inflated bills, with vigilance findings confirming the irregularities but no subsequent accountability enforced by the board.^[79] Procurement processes in sub-devaswoms showed vulnerabilities to scams, as evidenced by unrecovered losses from manipulated expenditures, linked directly to the absence of timely cross-verification and digital tracking in manual record-keeping systems prevalent at the time.^[79] Land encroachments on TDB properties, often undetected for years due to weak boundary surveys and litigation delays, compounded financial mismanagement in sub-devaswoms during this period. Vigilance reports from the 2000s highlighted systematic failures in asset protection, with sub-devaswom committees unable to prevent or reclaim encroached temple lands, leading to permanent revenue shortfalls from lease or agricultural yields.^[80] Such oversight gaps, rooted in decentralized administrative hierarchies without robust central audits, fostered a culture of impunity, contrasting with more agile private religious endowments that maintained stricter devotee-influenced controls.^[81] In 2019, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) undertook a gold-plating restoration project for the gold-clad copper panels on the Dwarapalaka idols at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, involving removal and repair work that later revealed evidentiary discrepancies in documentation and asset weights.^[82]^[83] Officials recorded the panels as copper without gold plating during handover, falsifying transport documents (Mahazar) and understating the gold content, which contributed to undetected losses amid poor record-keeping practices.^[84]^[85] The issue surfaced prominently in 2025 when similar panels were removed again in September for repairs citing defects like color fading, prompting a TDB vigilance inquiry that identified approximately 4.5 kg of gold missing from the 2019-handled artifacts compared to prior inventories.^[83]^[86] On October 6, 2025, the Kerala High Court ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the discrepancies, followed by case registration on October 10 after the vigilance report highlighted misappropriation.^[87]^[88] The SIT, formed on October 9, expanded its scope to interstate raids in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Bellary by October 26, uncovering further leads on smuggled gold amid surging market prices exceeding ₹80,000 per 10 grams.^[89]^[90] The SIT indicted nine TDB officials, including former Devaswom Commissioner N. Vasu and 2019 board members, along with donor and former temple sponsor Unnikrishnan Potti (a priest-turned-businessman who served as assistant priest at Sabarimala from 2004-2008), for theft, criminal conspiracy, cheating, and breach of trust involving temple property.^[82]^[91] Potti was arrested on October 17, 2025, for allegedly misappropriating gold under the pretext of cladding work, using only minimal amounts (e.g., 3 grams) while diverting the rest, with two cases filed against him.^[92]^[93] Assistant Engineer K. Sunil Kumar was suspended on October 14 for his role in the 2019 misrecording of gold as copper, with the TDB board under scrutiny for oversight lapses during a period of CPI(M)-led state government influence in Kerala.^[84]^[94] Former board officer Murari Babu was remanded for 14 days on October 23 for falsifying documents claiming panels were copper-only.^[95] The discrepancies trace to lapses in tracking gold from devotee offerings, including a 1998 donation of over 30 kg gold and 1,900 kg copper by industrialist Vijay Mallya for temple adornments, which were plated onto panels but inadequately inventoried during subsequent 2019 repairs and 2025 defect fixes.^[90]^[96] Potti's involvement allegedly exploited these repair cycles to siphon assets, with the SIT's interim sealed report submitted to the High Court on October 21 highlighting systemic record-keeping failures that enabled the theft chain despite high-value stakes.^[97]^[98] The probe continues to assess broader collusion, with political demands for CBI intervention amid accusations of government complicity under the ruling CPI(M).^[68]

Broader Critiques of State Control and Autonomy Violations

Critics argue that the government-nominated structure of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) facilitates political interference and mismanagement, as board members are appointed by the state government from among Hindu legislators, enabling partisan influence over temple affairs.^[99] This nomination process has led to instances of appointments favoring political allies, such as the 2024 selection of a pro-Communist Party of India (Marxist) figure as commissioner, which was later quashed by the Kerala High Court for procedural irregularities.^[100] Such politicization is said to prioritize electoral gains over religious integrity, contrasting with the relative autonomy enjoyed by mosque and church managements in Kerala, which operate without comparable state oversight or nomination requirements.^[101] Fund diversions from TDB resources to non-religious or extraneous purposes exemplify this vulnerability, with audit reports revealing irregularities like a scam amounting to Rs 50,79,502 across eight TDB sub-groups, attributed to unauthorized expenditures and poor accountability under state-appointed oversight.^[102] Proponents of reform contend this reflects a discriminatory framework, as Hindu temple revenues are subject to potential state repurposing—such as for welfare schemes or secular events—while Waqf boards managing Islamic endowments and church trusts retain self-governance without mandatory financial scrutiny or diversion mandates, undermining equal treatment under Article 14 of the Constitution.^[103] This selective control is viewed as eroding Hindu institutional autonomy, with temple funds historically funneled into broader state coffers in ways not imposed on minority religious bodies.^[104] The TDB's operations are criticized for breaching the 1949 Covenant between Travancore and the Indian Union, which preserved royal oversight of devaswoms as privy purses, and Article 26 of the Constitution, guaranteeing religious denominations the right to manage their affairs without undue state intrusion.^[105]^[106] State interventions, including ordinance alterations to board terms, have been challenged as covenant violations that subordinate temple governance to executive fiat, fostering inefficiency and corruption rather than preserving denominational self-regulation.^[105] Devotee organizations and Hindu advocacy groups advocate replacing nominated boards with elected bodies comprising stakeholders like priests, traditional custodians, and pilgrims, arguing that self-management by committed adherents inherently safeguards rituals and assets more effectively than distant bureaucratic or political appointees.^[107] This push aligns with principles of institutional efficacy, where religious bodies thrive under internal accountability rather than imposed secular administration, which often dilutes sanctity through non-expert oversight and fiscal opacity.^[99] Such reforms, they assert, would mitigate systemic risks evident in recurring scandals, restoring temples as autonomous spiritual centers free from electoral exploitation.^[108]

Judicial Interventions and Reforms

Kerala High Court Directives on Audits and Digitization

In October 2025, the Kerala High Court directed the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to implement full digitization of its financial records and accounting systems to address longstanding mismanagement and prevent manual frauds.^[109] The court criticized the board's reliance on archaic manual record-keeping, which had enabled delays in audits spanning over a decade, and mandated the adoption of suitable software for real-time financial tracking and compliance.^[39] This order required TDB officials and the Kerala State Audit Department to appear before the court by October 30, 2025, to submit a detailed action plan outlining digitization timelines and audit protocols.^[110] The directives stemmed from audit findings revealing violations of the Devaswom Manual, including unresolved objections totaling over ₹21 lakh against specific officers and broader failures in voucher tracing and financial reconciliation.^[40] The High Court emphasized that timely, digitized audits were essential to enforce empirical accountability, flaying the board's practices as conducive to irregularities amid ongoing probes into asset discrepancies.^[111] Complementing these measures, on October 22, 2025, the court ordered the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold-plating irregularities to seize TDB's minutes books from 2019 onward, preserving records of key decisions to ensure evidentiary integrity and curb potential tampering.^[112] This built on precedents from earlier judicial interventions enforcing comprehensive asset inventories, where the court had similarly mandated detailed statements on temple finances to verify holdings against manual ledgers.^[113] The SIT complied promptly, securing the documents to facilitate transparent scrutiny of board proceedings linked to financial lapses.^[114]

Advocacy for Devotee-Led Autonomy and Structural Changes

Former Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar has advocated for a structural overhaul of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), emphasizing the need for a board that represents devotees in line with the original covenant, while restricting government involvement to mere appointments rather than direct administration.^[4] He argues that this would ensure temple revenues remain dedicated to religious purposes without state diversion, promoting professionalism through staff training, IT integration, and process re-engineering to eliminate middlemen in sponsorships and offerings.^[4] Restoration of covenant principles, which historically positioned devaswoms as devotee-managed entities under limited oversight, forms the basis of such proposals to curb politicization via board appointments by legislators.^[4] Empirical comparisons highlight the superior performance of private trusts and mutts over state-controlled boards like the TDB, with trusts demonstrating higher resource mobilization, better maintenance, and sustained cultural preservation due to greater operational autonomy.^[115] In Kerala, TDB-managed temples have faced revenue challenges amid the rising popularity and income of those run by private trusts and individuals, prompting the board to adopt competitive strategies such as enhanced marketing and facilities to retain devotee footfall.^[44] Analogous data from Tamil Nadu's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department reveal inefficiencies in state oversight, where 90% of temples generate under ₹10,000 annually despite vast landholdings, with administrative costs exceeding upkeep allocations by a factor of nearly 30, underscoring the case for separating temple funds from government influence to prioritize self-sustainability.^[115] These reforms aim to foster accountability to pilgrims rather than political entities, potentially enhancing temple sanctity through mandatory annual verifications and transparent handling of donations, thereby reducing corruption risks inherent in centralized control.^[4] Proponents contend that devotee-centric governance, modeled on successful trust systems in other regions, would align management with religious priorities, minimizing mismanagement observed in board operations.^[115] Such shifts draw from frameworks recommending decentralized, trust-based models with professional oversight to restore empirical efficacy in temple administration.^[115]

References

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Travancore Devaswom Board is an autonomous body constituted under the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act XV of 1950.
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