Kerala HC orders vigilance probe into siphoning off of ghee sale proceeds at Sabarimala

Kochi, Jan 13 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered a vigilance probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds by TDB employees in relation to the sale of 'Adiya Sishtam Ghee' -- a sacred offering sold to devotees at the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.

A bench of justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar directed the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, to register a crime and constitute a team of "upright and competent officers" to investigate it.

"The investigating team shall file a report before this Court within a period of one month from today, indicating the progress of the investigation. The team so constituted shall be answerable only to this court, and before filing the final report, prior permission of this court shall be obtained," the bench said.

The court said that it was "shocked and deeply disturbed" by the turn of events.

"The misappropriation detected pertains to a short period of less than two months. The very fact that such large-scale diversion of funds could occur within such a limited span of time clearly points to deep-rooted and systemic failures in supervision, stock control, verification mechanisms, and timely remittance of collections," it said.

The bench also said that it was "inconceivable" that the siphoning of the funds "was carried out without the knowledge knowledge, acquiescence, or at least willful blindness of persons occupying positions at the higher rungs of the administrative hierarchy".

It said the failure to institute even basic safeguards amounts to "grave dereliction of duty".

"It appears to us that certain employees of the Travancore Devaswom Board are more interested in siphoning off amounts rather than conscientiously rendering the service entrusted to them.

"The conduct disclosed gives rise to a disturbing inference that the predominant objective of such employees is personal gain, by one means or another, rather than the faithful discharge of their duties to the institution and the devotees," the court said.

It said that a comprehensive probe was required to ascertain the full extent of the misappropriation of funds by the employees of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

The orders came in a petition initiated by the court on its own following a report by the TDB's Chief Vigilance and Security Officer pointing out that sale proceeds of 16,628 packets of ghee sold at the shrine have not been remitted to the Devaswom account.

"The records reveal that the price of 13,679 packets, amounting to Rs 13,67,900, has not been remitted. The magnitude of the short remittance, within a limited window of time, is alarming and cannot be brushed aside as an accounting lapse," the bench said.

Besides that, the report also revealed that there was a shortage of 22,565 packets of ghee during the period from December 27, 2025 to January 2, 2026, leading to a loss of revenue of Rs 22,65,500 to the Devaswom, the court noted and said that it was "not a case of mere negligence".

The court said that if over Rs 35 lakh from sale of ghee was siphoned off in under two months, it would be difficult to imagine the magnitude of misappropriation that may have occurred over a longer period and across other revenue streams.

"The facts disclosed prima facie make out a clear case of criminal misappropriation, falsification of accounts/records, and other cognisable offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988," the bench said.

It further said that the report also revealed "serious procedural lapses", particularly the lack of stocking taking and recording of closing balance when there is a change of person at the sale counter.

"This failure to insist upon a proper handing-over and taking-over process is a fundamental breach of elementary safeguards. It creates an environment conducive to such diversion of funds, misappropriation and with a view to make any subsequent accountability a difficult exercise," the court said.

It said that, in the circumstances, it can be "prima facie" inferred that the employees in charge, during the period from November 17, 2025 to December 26, 2025, were responsible for the misappropriation of the sale proceeds.

It also said that, according to the report, records were maintained in a careless and irregular manner and opined that the objective was "obviously to facilitate the siphoning of funds and misappropriate the same".

The court noted that one of the employees, Sunil Kumar Potty, allegedly failed to issue receipts to devotees for sale of ghee and remitted an amount of Rs 68,200 from the sale proceeds to the Board after a delay of 17 days.

"The failure to issue receipts and the delayed remittance of collections are grave indicators of deliberate concealment and improper handling of public funds," it said, following which the Board informed the bench that the employee has been suspended and further action is proposed against him.

The bench pointed out that it has on earlier occasions, flagged similar instances and deprecated the "casual and indifferent manner" in which revenue proceeds were being handled by Board employees.

"We have also reminded the Board that any continued failure to act can only lead to the inference that the higher echelons of the Board are either unwilling or complicit in permitting such systemic lapses to continue," it said. PTI HMP KH