SC : no immediate threat of treasure pilferage

The Supreme Court on Thursday said there is no immediate threat of pilferage of treasures from within the vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram and disagreed with amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium’s recommendation to fortify the walls and floor of three more temple vaults containing gold and precious articles.

A Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and Anil R. Dave raised doubts whether the temple or the State need to immediately incur the expenses of empanelling the floors and walls of the three Kallaras (lockers) – C, D and E – as was done in vault A.

The former Travancore royals, represented by senior lawyer Krishnan Venugopal, agreed with the court by raising doubts whether both the temple and the State could bear the “huge” costs of fortifying the Kallaras now.

Representing the State, senior lawyer K.V. Vishwanathan said the wrapping of Kallara A in steel panels from the inside had cost a total of Rs.1.53 crore, two-thirds of this amount was paid from the public coffers.

He said the State was already burdened with the expense of providing security cover for the temple, employing for example 400 policemen to guard it, costing an annual sum of about Rs.13 crore.

Salary payment

Mr. Venugopal submitted that a lion’s share of the temple revenue went to paying the salaries of the staff and for the upkeep of the temple. He said the discovery of the treasure and its aftermath had only increased expenditure.

“Mr. Subramanium, there is no immediate threat of pilferage as security arrangements have been made and the inventory of all the articles found in the Kallaras has been completed,” Justice Thakur observed.

No arming of guards

When Mr. Subramanium suggested arming some of the guards to protect the temple, Justice Thakur said that would not be required.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Subramanium. God himself is there. Then there is the Kerala Police. You mean to say if both fail, these guards would be able to protect all?” Justice Thakur asked. However, the court agreed with the amicus curiae’s suggestion to have Godrej and Boyce, the company which did the steel work in Kallara A, to provide exact expenses for doing the same for the other three vaults.

The court further stressed that the living conditions of the priests in the temple deserve a turn for the better. The Bench said the living quarters of the priests in the temple should be made “habitable”. Mr. Subramanium referred to the condition of their rooms as “pathetic” even as the royals objected to this as an overstatement.

“Their living conditions, even if they use the rooms only during their time inside the temple, should be improved. On one side, you have treasures, but the Tantris (priests) live in slums,” Justice Thakur said.

Source : The Hindu