High Court orders seizure of entire gold plating records of Sabarimala idols, other items

KOCHI: Hardening its stance against the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for sending gold-plated sheets of dwarapalaka idols of the Sabarimala temple to Chennai for repair without following proper procedure, the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the TDBs chief vigilance and security officer (SP) to seize all the records related to the gold plating of the idols and other items since the date of original cladding. It also impleaded Unnikrishnan Potty of Bengaluru, who is sponsoring the repair, and Smart Creations of Chennai, which is undertaking it, in the case and asked the registry to issue urgent notice of the proceedings. A bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar directed the TDB security officer to seize entire records concerning the gold-plating/gold-cladding of the dwarapalakas, the door lintel, the door panel, the Lakshmi Roopam and Kamanam, commencing from the date of the original cladding. The officer should also ensure the file relating to the other set of dwarapalaka idols and kept in the strongroom are placed before the court. Meanwhile, the TDB filed an affidavit tendering unconditional apology for failing to obtain prior permission before detaching the gold-plated coverings and for the subsequent delay in communicating this action to the special commissioner. It was on the special commissioners report highlighting this lapse by the TDB that the HC initiated suo motu proceedings and issued the directive. 3-day recap Sept 9: Report by Sabarimala special commissioner R Jayakrishnan says gold coverings of dwarapalaka idols detached and sent to Chennai without the courts permission Sept 10: HC orders TDB to bring the sheets back Sept 11: TDB cites practical difficulties in doing so