Kerala HC stays MDB order on journey, meals bills of officers attending Global Ayyappa Sangamam

The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed an order issued by the Malabar Devaswom Board (MDB) that authorised officers of shrines below it who had volunteered to attend the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at Pampa on Saturday to bear the journey and meals bills from their respective temple funds.

A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice Okay.V. Jayakumar handed the interim order on a plea by Ramachandran A.V., who labored as a clerk at a temple in Nileshwaram, Kasaragod. The courtroom additionally issued discover to the State authorities, the MDB and the board’s commissioner, in search of their stand on a plea that challenged the board’s order of September 18 that authorised divisional inspectors and govt officers of temples to make use of the temple funds to bear their journey and meals bills.

In his plea, Mr. Ramachandran contended that temple funds are belief property and belonged to the deity and its worshippers. The State held it below a fiduciary relationship solely as a statutory trustee and therefore can not direct to divert funds for extraneous functions.

Moreover, many temples had been dealing with acute monetary crunch, with some situations of delay in paying wage to workers. Many temples are both in a dilapidated situation or want repairs. In this example, the order by the board’s commissioner was unlawful, arbitrary, unreasonable and in addition violated the rights of devotees. The petitioner termed the route issued by the State authorities by the MDB on this regard as ‘colourable train of energy’.