The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to file new affidavit over filing of bonds with Dhanlaxmi Bank. TDB mentioned it will take action against the staff who filed the initial affidavit.
Travancore Devaswom Board will now file a new affidavit in High Court over Dhanlaxmi bank bond row. Earlier the TDB’s affidavit had justified the filing of bonds with Dhanlaxmi Bank by saying that Lord Ayyappa had foreseen calamities. The TDB President A. Padmakumar said, “We are now considering a fresh affidavit after pulling out the first one. There was no reason for giving such a reason in the first affidavit.”
Kerala Audit Department had earlier revealed how TDB purchased 150 crore bonds of Dhanlaxmi bank in Thrissur using Devaswom Employees Provident Fund without considering the after-effects and the temple board had tried to justify it since then.
The Sabarimala issue was caught in controversies regarding the allowing of women and girls from the age of 10-50 inside citing religious reasons such as the deities’ wishes. The temple and the right wing activists who supported the ban on women came up citing the celibacy of the deity as the reason for not allowing women of menstruating age inside the temple.
“Nobody in the universe is aware what’s in store for him/her in future. The TDB is no exception,” said TDB Secretary. “The unprecedented flood and Supreme Court verdict on entry of women to Sabarimala had adversely affected the TDB’s finances. The administration is running from pillar to post for survival. In such a situation, it’s believed Lord Ayyappa had foreseen such calamities and paved the way for some kind of compensation by way of Dhanlaxmi Bank bonds,” Board secretary had told HC earlier.