The government secretaries of Finance, Tourism and Culture were directed by the High Court of Kerala to verify all accounts of Kochi-Muziris Biennale Foundation before recommending the release of Rs. 4 crore sanctioned by the State government.
The order was issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K. Vinod Chandran while considering a petition filed by Lantern Fine Arts Society, Thiruvananthapuram.
The biennale foundation had submitted that they had spent Rs. 15 crore for the event. The event received a grant of Rs. 9 crore from the State government besides donations. Bill payment would be upset if Rs. 4 crore was not release on time, they said. The court said the foundation has to furnish all the accounts to the finance department and if any deficit was found during the audit, it was responsible to rectify it.
