The amicus curiae for Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Gopal Subramaniam has pulled up the royal family for going soft on the temple administrative officer who had been taking money for appointments to various posts in the temple and found selling fake ornaments to unsuspecting devotees.

The observations were made by the amicus curiae to the division bench of the Supreme Court early this month. The report states that the administrative officer, Mr Jayasekharan Nair, was colluding with a jewellery shop to sell fake gold ornaments. It says that the police had to threaten the patriarch of the royal family, Marthanda Varama, with legal action for him to put an end to the fake gold business. “But no action was taken against Mr Nair who had been the official in charge of the scheme,” the report states. Further, it adds that the royal family is all for such a scheme.
The fake gold sale was brought to light when a police officer on duty purchased a gold coin weighing 8 grams on which the deity’s image was inlaid. When he weighed the coin, it was less than 6 gms. Mr Subramaniam said that there had been many such complaints by devotees.
“These coins were made by a leading jewellery shop in Thiruvananthapuram and a total of 1,000 coins have been sold so far. The AO is accused of having misappropriated either money or gold in connivance with jewellery officials,” the report states.
The amicus curiae also states that the administrative officer extracts his share from fresh appointments, even from daily wagers.
The AO was also accused of arbitrarily jacking up the cost of constructing a “keeping centre” at the temple from `3 lakh to `10 lakh.
When the audit clerk questioned this, the AO silenced him by promoting him and shifting him to an office outside the temple.

Source: The Asian Age, July 31, 2013