Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 3 (PTI) The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the temple management body, on Monday said it would intensify the scrutiny and surveillance in the appointment of ‘keezhsahnthies’, the assistant priests in Sabarimala.
Speaking to reporters here, TDB president P S Prasanth said in future, priests would be appointed only after a thorough background check and would remain under strict surveillance of the vigilance wing of the temple body.
The TDB president clarified its stand in the wake of a raging controversy over the alleged disappearance of gold from the Sabarimala temple and the role of Unnikrishnan Potty, the prime accused in the case, who began his association with the hill temple as an assistant priest before becoming a sponsor of temple works.
“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,” he said.
He also made it clear that removing all the existing keezhshanthies suddenly and appointing Devaswom assistant priests in their place is not possible.
But, the TDB’s goal is to appoint at least some assistant priests from the Devaswom panel in Sabarimala, he said adding that a Board meeting would discuss the matter later in the day.
Prasanth also acknowledged that the TDB faces limitations in overhauling the appointment process, as it is being done in accordance with verdicts of Supreme Court and High Court.
The Kerala High Court recently formed an SIT to investigate alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates on the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala.
A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar ordered the constitution of the SIT after the TDB Vigilance team submitted an interim report on its preliminary investigation into the matter.
The HC had recently directed the TDB Vigilance to probe the reduced weight of the Dwarapalaka idols after they were sent to a Chennai-based firm for electroplating a project sponsored by Unnikrishnan Potty in 2019. PTI LGK ROH
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