Travancore's last ruler died in 1991, the Kerala High Court said his brother could not inherit the temple's management, and the Supreme Court gave the family control

Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, last ruler of Travancore, signed the 1949 covenant that joined his state to India. The law kept the temple under the "Ruler of Travancore." He died on 19 July 1991. His younger brother, Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, claimed the management. On 31 January 2011 the Kerala High Court held that "Ruler" was not a status anyone could inherit, so after 1991 there was no ruler, and ordered the state to take over the temple within three months, open all six vaults, inventory them and build a museum. The family appealed. Kerala told the Supreme Court on 14 July 2011 that everything in them belonged to the deity and that neither the state nor the royal family could claim it. The amicus curiae described priceless gems, gold and coins. The court inventoried vaults A and C to F. Its orders of 2014 and 2017 recorded that Vault B had not been opened and was to be inventoried only on its express order. Marthanda Varma died, and his successor took his place in the case in 2014. On 13 July 2020 Justices U.U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra held that the shebaitship passed to the ruler's successor by law and custom and did not lapse to the state. They set up an administrative committee chaired by the district judge and left the question of opening Vault B to the committees. No opening of Vault B has been reported^†.