Summary
The Court rejected the Temple Trust’s request for exclusion from the special audit directed in the 2020 judgment. Read with the amicus report, earlier orders and the Trust counsel’s recorded assurance of cooperation, that direction covered both Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Trust. The separate request for a declaration of institutional independence was left for competent factual assessment after audit. The audit was directed to finish as early as possible, preferably within three months, with full Trust cooperation.
Issues
- Whether the earlier special-audit direction extended to Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust.
- Whether the Court should presently declare the Trust independent of the Temple committees’ administrative control.
Held
- The scope of paragraph 116(g) of the 13 July 2020 judgment had to be understood against the developments preceding it, including the 2014 amicus report and counsel’s recorded submissions in May 2015. In that context, the contemplated audit extended to the Trust as well as the Temple. The request to exclude the Trust was rejected. (¶¶ 1, 2.1, 3, 3.1, 5, 6)
- The request for a declaration that the Trust was an independent entity outside the committees’ administrative control required factual assessment. The Court refrained from deciding it; an appropriately competent court or authority could examine it after completion of the special audit. (¶¶ 2.3, 4, 7, 8)
- Given the urgency disclosed by the committees’ reports, the Temple and Trust special audit was to be completed as early as possible, preferably within three months of the order. In light of its earlier recorded assurance, the Trust was expected to provide complete cooperation. (¶¶ 9, 10)
Result
Trust application disposed of: audit exclusion refused; independence and administrative-control question left undecided. Temple and Trust audit to finish as early as possible, preferably within three months, with Trust cooperation.