The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the body responsible for temple management, announced on Monday that it will be stepping up the vetting and oversight process for appointing 'keezhsahnthies', or assistant priests, at the Sabarimala temple.
Speaking to reporters, TDB president PS Prasanth stated that in the future, priests would only be appointed after thorough background checks and would remain under the strict supervision of the temple body's vigilance wing.
The TDB president's clarification comes amid a heated row over the alleged disappearance of gold from the Sabarimala temple and the involvement of Unnikrishnan Potty. Potty, the principal suspect in the case, initially became associated with the hill shrine as an assistant priest before going on to sponsor temple construction work.
“There will be a serious scrutiny and surveillance by the TDB vigilance in the matter of assistant priests being appointed in Sabarimala. There is no doubt about it,” affirmed Prasanth.
He also clarified that it is not feasible to suddenly dismiss all existing keezhshanthies and replace them with Devaswom assistant priests. However, he noted that the TDB's aim is to appoint at least some assistant priests from the Devaswom panel at Sabarimala, adding that a Board meeting later in the day would address the matter.
Prasanth conceded that the TDB faces certain constraints in completely overhauling the appointment process, as it must adhere to the rulings set forth by both the Supreme Court and the High Court.
In a related development, the Kerala High Court recently constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into alleged irregularities concerning the reduced weight of the gold-plated copper panels on the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala. The bench, comprising Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar, ordered the SIT's formation after the TDB Vigilance team submitted an interim report detailing its preliminary investigation into the issue. The High Court had earlier instructed the TDB Vigilance to investigate the diminished weight of the Dwarapalaka idols following their transfer to a Chennai-based firm for electroplating, a project sponsored by Unnikrishnan Potty in 2019.
Also read: Kerala govt sanctions ₹377.8 cr to repair Sabarimala routes
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