Guruvayoor: The hearing on the controversial auction of Thar in Guruvayoor Temple will be held on April 9 as per the High Court order. During the hearing to be held at the Guruvayur Devaswom Conference Hall, the Devaswom Commissioner will hear the arguments of the representatives of the organization who filed the case and those who have objections in this regard.

Further, the Devaswom Commissioner said that if anyone else has an objection, it should be submitted in writing in a sealed envelope to the Devaswom Administrative Office or by e-mail IDs sec.transport@kerala.gov.in and ksrtccmd@gmail.com before 11 am on April 9. The auction price was only Rs 10,000 more than the fixed price. Further, only a lone bidder participated in the auction.

Following this, the Hindu Seva Kendra in Kochi filed a petition in the high court seeking annulment of the auction. Later, the High Court demanded details, including price of the vehicle and the details of auction process to be produced.

In the auction, the Thar was sold to Subhash Panikar for Rs 15.10 lakh, which was only slightly greater than its original price of Rs 15 lakh. In the petition, the complainant stated that the vehicle was sold to Amal Muhammed Ali, a Kochi native, who funded Subhash Panikar. The petitioner alleged that the vehicle was sold at a price much lesser than its on-road price of Rs 15.90 lakh. 

The permission of the Devasom Commissioner must be sought if the value of goods in the auction is beyond Rs 5000. However, this rule was outrightly violated during the auction of Thar. 

In November 2021, Mahindra Group gifted a brand new SUV limited edition of Thar - a 4-wheeler to Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple in Thrissur. Later, it was decided to place the vehicle for auction at a base price of Rs 15 lakh.