Devaswom Board Directs Temples To ‘Donate’ For Kerala Flood Relief, ‘On What Authority’ Asks Kerala High Court
In a severe blow to the state governments excesses, Kerala High court today quashed the order of Commissioner, Malabar Devaswom Board that directed temples under it to donate to the Chief Minister Disaster Relief Fund reports Malayalam-daily Deepika.
The commissioner of Malabar Devaswom Board had earlier directed to collect Rs 5 lakh each from 22 temples, Rs 2.5 lakhs from two temples each, and Rs 1 lakh each from the remaining 33 temples reported Janmabhumi.
‘On what authority does the commissioner issue such a directive?’ asked the High Court. Donations to disaster relief fund cannot be done through extortion, the court observed while dismissing the order.
Earlier a scion of the Travancore royal family has said that if the treasures of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram were to be used for flood relief and rehabilitation works mosques and churches should contribute too.
The comments come in the wake of demands on social media that the treasures of the temple be utilised for rehabilitation work in Kerala, which has been ravaged by floods since July. The suggestion has almost been equally welcomed and opposed.