The Kerala High Court addressed serious concerns over financial irregularities involving the Travancore Devaswom Board, which administers over 1,250 temples and associated assets. A special audit of a petrol-pump run by the Board at Nilakkal (“Swamy Ayyappa Fuels”) uncovered mismanagement and misappropriation of funds to the tune of approximately ₹ 40 lakh. The audit revealed multiple discrepancies: stock registers for fuel sales had not been updated (last entry July 2024), credit sales were recorded only up to September 2024, daily remittances to bank were delayed, machine readings and official registers did not match (after approximations a shortfall of 6,987 litres of diesel remained), and cash receipts and other internal controls were lacking. The audit further noted that the Board was still operating largely on outdated manual accounting systems despite having earlier commitments to full computerisation.
In light of these findings, the Division Bench of the High Court declared that such administrative and financial lapses amounted to a breach of the statutory duties imposed on the Board under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act. The Court emphasised that the Board, as the custodian of temple properties and funds, is legally obliged to ensure proper maintenance of accounts, safeguard funds, and prevent diversion or misuse of revenue. The lax record-keeping, lack of real-time accounting, missing bank reconciliation statements and the absence of tamper-proof digital systems betrayed a systemic failure of oversight.
Consequently, the Court directed the Travancore Devaswom Board to implement a comprehensive, end-to-end digitalised accounting system without further delay. The system must be capable of capturing all revenues and expenditures of all the Board’s institutions on a day-to-day basis, including temple income, commercial operations, stock and inventory (such as fuel, merchandise), procurement and tender management, human-resources/payroll, contracts, and audit trails. The Bench stressed the system should preferably be cloud-hosted, micro-services-based, fully integrated with accounting and audit software, and capable of real-time monitoring and reconciliation. The Court set a deadline (August 22, 2025) for the Board to file a detailed statement outlining concrete steps taken, whether an enterprise-resource-planning (ERP) system has been implemented, what vendor engaged, what modules operational, and what timelines remain. If no digitisation exercise has been carried out, the Board was required to furnish an explanation.
The Court observed that the petitioners and the audit report likely exposed only the “tip of the iceberg” of mismanagement; the seriousness of the petrol-pump deficiencies indicated potential wider misappropriation across the Board’s properties and commercial operations. It opined that further delay in computerisation would facilitate continued misuse, undermine public trust, and compromise the upkeep of temples and devotees’ funds. The judgment reiterated that transparency, accountability and adoption of robust technological safeguards are not optional administrative choices but are legal obligations of the Devaswom Board.
The High Court recalled that earlier as far back as 2015 directions had been issued for full computerisation of the Board’s operations, but little or no meaningful action had been taken. The bench emphasised that such inaction must not be tolerated where religious institutions are concerned and ordered that the audit findings and the compliance report be placed before it at the next hearing.
In summary, the Kerala High Court’s ruling mandates the Travancore Devaswom Board to rapidly digitalise its entire financial and commercial accounting systems in light of audit-revealed misappropriation, and to ensure that all revenue, expenditure, stock and tender processes are under real-time, tamper-proof systems in order to uphold its fiduciary duties and safeguard temple assets.
 Must Digitise Accounts After Audit Reveals ₹ 40 Lakh Misappropriation: Kerala High Court){kind=link}
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