ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT Vs. COCHIN DEVASWOM BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition has been registered on the basis of Report No.35/2012, filed before this Court by the learned Ombudsman for Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards. The report of the learned Ombudsman indicates that proceedings were initiated on the basis of an anonymous complaint received by him relating to the properties of the Vadayambadi Kottaram Temple, which is under the supervisory jurisdiction of the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB) .

(2.) The tenor of the aforesaid complaint appears to be that 60 cents of Devaswom land had been trespassed by the then Secretary of the Temple Advisory Committee and transferred to the brother of the President of the Committee and that the revenue officials also connived with them to effect mutation in the revenue records, even though applications for such purpose were not supported by any basic documents.

(3.) On the basis of this complaint, proceedings were initiated by the learned Ombudsman and reports were obtained from the Special Tahsildar, Cochin Devaswom Board, which, however, did not throw any light into the real state of affairs. The learned Ombudsman, therefore, more in a show of exasperation, filed this report stating that 'unless the pattern of working of the Office of the Special Tahsildar is changed no useful purpose will be served by its continuance' (sic) .