TDB admits to flaws in Ayyappa Sangamam finances; appoints task force to rectify anomalies in the report

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has admitted that there were flaws in the audit report on the Global Ayyappa Sangamam submitted to the Kerala High Court.

TDB president K Jayakumar said here on Tuesday that the board had erred in not answering the auditor’s queries in entirety, thus inadvertently creating room for scepticism. He said the Board is to be blamed for the flaws and not the auditor.

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K Jayakumar informed that the TDB has appointed a special task force to rectify the anomalies that crept into the audit report on the expenses incurred for the conduct of the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at Sabarimala in September 2025. “A final report will be submitted to the High Court before 26 February,” he added.

“The report was submitted in haste as we had to meet the deadline fixed by the court. No affidavit was submitted along with the report. The Board examined the report today and found discrepancies in it. A task force has been formed to rectify them,” the TDB president said.

Jayakumar said the audit report’s finding that Rs 8 lakh was paid to Nandagovindam Bhajans and that 4,000 persons took breakfast at the venue was based on wrong documents. The task force will examine these mistakes. “Normally, during an audit, the auditor would raise certain queries for which the client replies. A few replies would be accepted, and others would not. Unaccepted matters will remain as major objections. Such a procedure did not happen in our case. It is not the auditor’s fault but ours. It is our failure that we did not give timely replies to the queries,” he said.

Soon after the content of the audit report came out, the Opposition Congress alleged that in continuation of the looting that took place in Sabarimala, a huge fraud was carried out in the guise of Global Ayyappa Sangamam. Opposition leader VD Satheesan alleged despite the strict instruction of the High Court to keep separate accounts, crores of rupees were looted in the name of Global Ayyappa Sangamam. “Were all those who arrived for the Sangamam accommodated in a five-star hotel? Were they provided with food in a five-star hotel? What was the program that took place there,” he asked, pointing out that they even wrote a bill in the name of a music troupe that didn’t stage any programme.

It has been reported that a bill of Rs 8 lakh was charged for the Ayyappa Sangam towards the payment of Nanda Govindam Bhajans. The Nanda Govindam troupe was not invited to the Sangam that day nor did they arrive for the programme.