Karnataka High Court has directed to create integrated and centralized electronic financial management system for all temples. This system can become a standard for religious places across the country in future.
Hearing a case involving theft of Rs 8,750 from temple donations, the Karnataka High Court said, "Temple money is not ordinary money. It is a trust property, collected by the faith of the devotees, and kept safe for the deity and the institution."
Justice Suraj Govindraj, in his 118-page judgment, has devoted 53 pages to instructions only.
He has directed the e-governance department and the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department to implement an "integrated real-time system" for safeguarding the funds and properties of temples.
This concern of the court has come to the fore at a time when there were allegations of alleged misuse of the amount donated to Ram Temple.
The state governments of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka had issued instructions in July soon after the case of theft of donations in Ayodhya came to light.
In these instructions, it was said to implement a technology-based system to safeguard the wealth of the temples.
The judgment said, "The person handling the receipt counter in the temple bears the responsibility of trust. Both the devotees and the institution depend on his honesty."
The judgment further said, "When such a person is found to have appropriated the funds collected from the temple, it amounts to serious misconduct. Its seriousness lies not in the quantity of money but in the breach of trust."
Rajesh Nayak was an assistant clerk who was promoted to second division clerk after 11 years.
He was accused of issuing duplicate receipts for donation amount to Sri Durga Parameswari Temple located in Brahmavar taluk of Udupi district.
Between 23 and 25 August 2018, he misused the ID and password of the IT administrator of the temple. He was accused of "breach of trust and misappropriation of funds" at the temple.
A case was registered against him under sections 409, 468, 471, 420 and 21 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Nayak had appealed in the High Court against his dismissal from service.
Justice Sundaraj said, "This case shows how easily temple funds can be embezzled and how difficult it can be to trace and prove such wrongdoings."
He said that this error had come to light by chance. During manual matching, two receipts with the same number were found and this was discovered several days after the incident.
The decision said that when the investigation accessed the electronic records, no data related to printing of duplicate receipts was found in the server. It also could not be determined whether the backup data was deleted or not.
As a result, the allegation of tampering with records could not be fully proven. “Small amount of money does not make dishonesty a small matter,” the judgment said.
Justice Govindraj has suggested that the new system should cover all types of income and expenses of the temple. This should include receipts of puja and service. Records of special darshan and entry fees should also be kept in it. Hundi and other donations should also be recorded in this system.
Income from sale of Prasad, food donations, laddus and other items should also be included in this. Records of earnings from Kalyan Mandap fees, Mundan, vehicle puja and publications should also be maintained.
Income from leases, rentals and endowment properties should also be recorded in it. Its purpose is to ensure that no source of temple funds remains outside the monitoring of this system.
The judge said that every receipt should be issued only through this system. Each receipt must have a machine generated entry, a sequential and non-repeating serial number.
The system should be such that another receipt with an already existing number cannot be issued.
The decision said that if there is any genuine reason for reprinting of the receipt, it should be clearly and prominently written "Duplicate, Reprint". These words should be printed in such a way that they cannot be hidden nor can they be printed lightly or ambiguously.
Such reprinting should be done only for recorded reasons and with the independent permission of a supervisor. Additionally, the identity and time of the operator reprinting the receipt should be automatically recorded.
The decision said that every receipt should have a printed QR code. Devotees can scan or use it to verify from the central server that the receipt is genuine and unique.
With this, devotees will be able to detect fake or duplicate receipts at the counter itself.
The decision also states that every transaction should be sent to the central server as soon as it is created. With this, no record will be silently changed, deleted or tampered with after it is created.
The decision said that if network connectivity is lost, entries made offline should automatically synchronize when the connection is restored. Offline periods should also be marked for investigation.
The judgment said the purpose of this safeguard is to ensure that electronic records never go missing as in the present case. This will always ensure digital evidence is available to detect wrongdoing and any attempts to conceal it.
The judgment said, "Every employee handling cash, offerings or valuables should be covered by a fidelity guarantee bond or insured. Where the rules require it, the employee should also deposit a security deposit to cover any loss arising from his dishonesty."
All collections through cash, UPI, QR code, debit card, credit card, net banking, wallet, tap-and-pay, NFC enabled devices or any other accepted electronic payment medium should be recorded in real-time.
Information about all these transactions should be visible in the central accounting system.
At the end of each shift and at the end of each day the system should generate detailed reconciliation statements. It should contain details of total number of transactions, amount collected under various heads, mode of payment, pending transactions, canceled receipts, amount refunded and final balance.
The system should automatically identify any shortfalls, excess amounts, errors, duplicate transactions, late entries or unexplained differences.
Information in such cases should be immediately sent to the designated supervisory officer for verification.
Every amount collected by the institution should be immediately deposited in the designated bank account. Normally this amount should be deposited on the same working day. If it is not practically possible to do so, it should be submitted on the next working day.
Justice Govindraj has said that a complete digitized register of all immovable properties and endowment lands of every temple should be maintained.
In this, the area of the land, boundaries, documents related to ownership and wherever possible, geotag of the property should also be recorded.
He said that these properties should be monitored regularly. With this, encroachment can be detected quickly and action can be taken without delay.
The system should have such arrangements that real-time alerts are issued as soon as any defined suspicious situation arises.
The decision states that a centralized dashboard should be created for the commissioner and deputy commissioners. In this, there should be a facility to view the information by going to the level of any one counter or any one institution.
The decision states that audit should not remain a mere formality.
