The Travancore Devaswom Board’s audit wing has reported irregularities worth Rs 25.52 lakh in the sale of ghee packets meant for abhishekam at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. The findings relate to the Mandala pooja and Makaravilakku season, and were submitted as an interim report to the Kerala High Court.
Ghee packets are sold at the sannidhanam for devotees’ convenience. A complaint raised in January alleged malpractice in the sale of “Athi Ishtam ghee” during the previous season, following which an inquiry was initiated.
Acting on a High Court direction, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Devaswom Board’s audit wing conducted a probe. The initial stage had indicated irregularities of about Rs 16 lakh, the audit report said.
The audit wing stated that the discrepancy was detected in accounts linked to two ghee collection centres. It also pointed to lapses in procedures for collection, filtering and packing, and noted that volume measurement of ghee in packets was not carried out.
Records related to procurement and sales were found to be poorly maintained, with key details—such as how many packets were produced from ghee received from the main warehouse—missing from official registers. Some entries were reportedly made in school notebooks with multiple corrections, and the number of packets produced from a one-kilogram plastic roll varied widely on different days. The audit wing recommended digitising the ghee sales system before the next season, deploying additional staff at counters and conducting quarterly audits during monthly poojas at Sannidhanam and Pamba. The High Court has directed the audit wing to conduct a detailed investigation and file a comprehensive report.
