The Kerala High Court has directed the entity entrusted with digitising financial transactions and records of temples under the Travancore Devaswom Board to place a comprehensive statement before it outlining the proposal and timeframe for the exercise. During proceedings concerning an audit report that had pointed to alleged embezzlement of funds from a petrol pump run by the Devaswom Board, the Division Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K.V. Jayakumar engaged with officials of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd. (KITFRA), the State-owned technology agency assigned to facilitate the digitisation project. The court examined technical and administrative aspects of the proposed project, including how digital systems could be designed to bring transparency, accountability, efficiency and improved service delivery to the administration of a large number of temples managed by the Devaswom Board.
The Bench recalled its earlier interim order and reminded KITFRA officials that their mandate included the development of a robust digital ecosystem for temple accounts and related transactions. KITFRA undertook that it would prepare and present to the court a detailed project report, including business requirements, data migration and legacy integration plans, technical and system requirement specifications, a project implementation plan, and a clear scope of work. The officials explained that they needed sufficient understanding of temple administration and functions to draft the required technical documents, and the court accepted their undertaking that a detailed statement would be filed within a stipulated timeframe.
The proposed digital architecture is intended to enable role-based access controls, tamper-proof audit trails, real-time monitoring of temple finances and public interface functionalities. The court emphasised that every aspect of the digitisation project must be professionally and comprehensively charted out before selecting a competent software firm to build the system. By requiring detailed documentation and transparency in planning, the High Court aims to ensure that the digitisation of temple accounts contributes meaningfully to preventing irregularities and corruption in financial management, while also enhancing public confidence in the administration of temples and institutions under the Devaswom Board. The matter was posted for further consideration on a future date after the detailed statement has been filed by KITFRA.
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