Kerala High Court initiates suo motu case into irregularities in auction for running temple auditoriums

The Kerala High Court recently initiated suo motu proceedings to look into the irregularities in the conduct of auction for running auditoriums/ sadyalayams in the temples under the management of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). .A Division Bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar was considering a case where the petitioner had remitted only 50 percent of the auction amount in two years of running the auditorium of a temple under the TDB. The Court pulled up the concerned authorities at the TDB for not taking any action against the petitioner despite the Court explicitly ordering them to take over possession of said sadyalam so by way of an order issued on February 1, 2022. "The conduct of respondents 4 and 5 and also the concerned officers in the Estate Division of the Travancore Devaswom Board in taking no action against the petitioner, who was a defaulter, has to be deprecated in the strongest words and we do so. They have not shown reasonable diligence in the manner of an ordinary prudent man of business to conduct his own affairs," the Court said in its judgement.The Court also noted that since the auction amount for running Sadyalayam for a period of two years from August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2021 was only ₹2,41,000, the average monthly income generated from the said building constructed by the Travancore Devaswom Board by spending several lakhs of rupees is only ₹10,000. "Such irregularities in the conduct of auction for running auditoriums/ sadyalayams in the temples under the management of the Travancore Devaswom Board cannot be permitted in future. Therefore, Registry shall initiate a suo motu proceedings in the above matter," the judgement stated..The issue of irregularities in the auction came to the notice of the Court when it was considering a plea which sought a direction to the Travancore Devaswom Board to consider the petitioner's representation for two years to pay the balance amount. The petitioner contended that owing to the financial constraints faced by them during the Covid-19 pandemic period, they were unable to pay the dues on time. However, it was submitted that the petitioner was hopeful of securing the contract for the next year as well and a discounted rate too. Over the course of the hearing, it was brought to the attention of the Court that even though the period of contract was only upto July 31, 2021, the petitioner, who is a defaulter, is still in possession of the Sadyalayam as of February 2022. Therefore, the Court directed the concerned authorities to immediately take possession of the Sadyalayam, by way of an interim orderHowever, since the same was not done, the Court initiated the suo motu proceedings to look into the irregularities. .The petitioner submitted that he has surrendered possession of Sadyalayam as on February 1, 2022 and that he has also cleared the electricity dues. Considering the continuing pandemic situation prevailing in the State, the petitioner requested that he may be permitted to pay the balance auction amount in monthly installments.The Court, however, opined that the petitioner is not entitled to seek any indulgence from it.Therefore, the Court directed the concerned Devaswom authorities from initiating any coercive steps against him for a period of two weeks. This was done to enable the petitioner to pay the entire balance auction amount together with 18% interest, as per tender conditions, and also the proportionate amount for the period from August 2021 to February 2022 together with 18% interest. If the petitioner defaults again, the Court directed the authorities to initiate recovery proceedings and blacklist the petitioner from participating in any further tenders. .[Read Judgment]