Judgment emphasizes the need for transparency and timely reporting of vigilance issues within the management of religious institutions.

JUDGMENT :

K.V. JAYAKUMAR, J.

1. This report pertains to the submission of the periodical status report of the Chief Vigilance Officer. In this report, the Special Commissioner, Sabarimala has cited the order in DBP 2/2022 dated 14.02.2022. Clause (v) of the order reads as follows:

“(v) The Chief Vigilance Officer in the Vigilance Wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board shall submit the periodical status reports of the cases, once in six months, to the Special Commissioner, Sabarimala. Such status reports of the Chief Vigilance Officer shall be placed before the Devaswom Bench, along with the report of the Special Commissioner.”

2. In this report, the Special Commissioner, Sabarimala has pointed out various instances of vigilance inspections conducted as reported by the Chief Vigilance Officer of Sabarimala with regard to the malpractices, misconduct, unauthorized absence of the temple staff and the misconduct of the employees of other temples coming under the Travancore Devaswom Board.

3. During the final hearing of this matter, the learned Standing Counsel for the TDB, Sri.G.Biju, submitted that the order referred to by the Special Commissioner, i.e., DBP 2/2022 was later modified by this Court in SSCR No.28/2023 and SSCR No.3/2025.

4. While disposing of SSCR No.28/2023, this Court issued the following directions:

“(i) The reports of the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer, which are addressed to the President of the Board, shall be placed before the Board, at the earliest, at any rate, within a period of one month from the date of that report, for taking necessary action.

(ii) The reports of the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer, which requires immediate Interference, shall be placed before the Board immediately on receipt of the same, at any rate, in the next meeting of the Board.

(iii) The action taken report prepared by the Secretary of the Board, along with the reports of the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police), shall be filed before this Court in 1 week of January and 1 week of June, which shall be numbered as DBA and listed before the Devaswom Bench, immediately on receipt of such reports, for appropriate orders.

(iv) The State of Kerala, represented by the Principal Secretary to Government, Revenue (Devaswom) Department and the Deputy Director, Kerala State Audit Department, Travancore Devaswom Board Audit shall be arrayed as respondents in such DBAS.

(v) If found necessary, the Devaswom Bench may refer the matter to the learned Ombudsman for enquiry and report, and the report of the learned Ombudsman shall be placed before the Devaswom Bench for appropriate orders.”

5. The learned Standing Counsel would then point out that, as per the order in SSCR No.3/2025 dated 18.03.2025, this Court has issued further direction to the Board. Paragraph 20 of the order in SSCR is extracted hereunder.

“20. The learned Standing Counsel for Travancore Devaswom Board would submit that the action taken report prepared by the Secretary of the Board, along with the reports of the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police), shall be placed on record within a period of 10 days, in which the status of the pending reports shall be mentioned. The learned Standing Counsel would submit that taking note of the volume of work undertaken by the Board and its officials during Mandala-Makaravilakku festival seasons at Sabarimala, the time limit stipulated in paragraph 23(iii) of the order dated 09.07.2024 in SSCR Nos.28 of 2023 and 10 of 2024 may be modified as first week of March and first week of August respectively, instead of first week of January and first week of June.

In such circum