KK Venugopal reps royals at SC: Keralite temple treasures are deity’s property

Saturday, 9 July 2011 By Legally India Bar, Bench & Litigation

Being a treasure owner does not come cheaply these days

Constitutional law expert and senior counsel KK Venugopal has represented the Travancore royal family in the Supreme Court, submitting that they did not intend to claim possession over the contents of the “public temple” that may be worth up to $22bn.

Venugopal submitted on behalf of the royal heirs that “no part of the wealth belongs to any person except the deity, Lord Padmanabhaswamy”, according to the Times of India.

The apex court bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik expressed relief, according to the paper, following intense debate and fears of claims and counter-claims over the riches that were discovered last week.

The temple was opened following a writ petition in the Kerala High Court by lawyer Sundara Rajan, who said the state should take over the temple because the royal family was incapable of protecting the riches. Rajan was represented by counsel Anand Padmanaban.

The Supreme Court bench said yesterday: “Valuation of articles is secondary, more important is preservation, safety and security.”

The central government intends to create a security cordon of up to 500m around the temple, consisting of 200 police and commando forces, which is to be introduced at a cost of Rs 30 crore ($6.8m) per year according to a media report.

Share your views below on where you think the treasure should go.

Photo by mykl roventine

KK Venugopal constitutional law Kerala treasure

Comments

Freedom 9 Jul 2011, 10:54

+2 -1

Yeah.

It is the temple property.

Just like we don't take away old precious marble off the Taj for it's monetary value.
Why remove the donations to the deity from the temple?

Dr G V Rao 9 Jul 2011, 14:57

+3 -1

The best situation would be to keep the wealth for public viewing in a museum under the watchful eyes of the observers of the SC for few weeks and then put them back from where they were brought out. No part of the jewels should be put anywhere except the temple. Its is the property of GOD and Government should not plan anything else.

anonymous 10 Jul 2011, 12:51

+3 -0

If such a treasure would have been discovered in UK, then the town of discovery would have been granted a sum of money to construct a museum and these treasures would have been housed in the musemu. Other infrastructure would have developed by private enterprise around the museum and would have ensured returns to the local economy for years to come. The museum would have earned income by visiting foreign tourist and would have covered costs for visiting locals.
End of debate.
Like you cannot ask Vatican to sell its historical treasures (currently in display and in storage in Swiss Banks) you should not expect these treasures to be handed over to the state.

SG 10 Jul 2011, 14:20

+1 -0

@3 - Its India not UK

State 10 Jul 2011, 17:16

I think that the wealth should be handed over to the state and be put to use for public welfare rather than people getting all religious over "God's money". I think God would have wanted that. That it be used for the wellbeing of the people. Rather than be put on display or "let the money be with God."

Non-state 10 Jul 2011, 18:12

Really? State will do public welfare by selling off property owned by a trust? Surely all of it will find its way to Swiss banks to join 'public welfare funds' deposited by other servants of your state....

aaa 10 Jul 2011, 20:19

+0 -0

r u from italy or vatican ?????

Layyman 11 Jul 2011, 04:30

+2 -0

Since the valuable assets have been now found intact and not siphoned off, the petitioner Mr Sundara Rajan's original point of contention that "the royal family was incapable of protecting the riches" is now proven groundless and false without a shred of evidence to stand on.

The petitioners case that "the state should take over" is also baseless as the "state" has been proven to be fully capable of misgovernance, mismanagement and corruption (refer to various Devaswom board cases and general trends including 2G/CWG scams and such).

Apart from that, the state should have no role in managing any Trust's property or any private person's property for that matter.

Last checked, India was not a totaliarian state where everything belongs to the government.

I rest my case !

Aninda 11 Jul 2011, 06:50

As per the accession in 1948, between the Royal family of Travancore and the Government of India, the affairs of temple was agreed to remain with the royal family itself. Since, the accession pact is a legal document, India should respect it. Moreover, the royal family is not claiming those treasures as their own and it has also been evident that they led a low profile life and have safeguarded those riches for centuries. So, they should use it for public welfare instead of the incapable State government.

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