The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala has kicked up a controversy with its decision to reduce the tenure of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the State-sponsored temple administrative body, from three to two years.
On Friday, the State Cabinet forwarded to Governor P. Sathasivam an ordinance to give effect to its decision.
However, critics allege that the Cabinet decision amounted to a breach of the covenant entered into by the State government with the former princely State of Travancore while handing over the temples to the government in 1950.
The Travancore Devaswom Board is an autonomous body constituted under the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions (TCHRI) Act of 1950 for administrating nearly 1,250 temples in the former princely State of Travancore.
These temples were earlier administered by the ruler of Travancore prior to the integration of the princely States of Travancore and Cochin in 1949. The constitution of the Devaswom board was drafted based on the covenant entered into by the Maharaja of Travancore in May 1949, and concurred to and guaranteed by the Government of India.
The board, with an annual budget of ₹983 crore and earnings in the region of ₹210 crore from the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, has a president and two members. One member shall be nominated by the Hindus among the Council of Ministers and the other member shall be elected by the Hindus among the Members of the Legislative Assembly.
Present tenure
At present, the tenure of the board president and members is three years. If and when the ordinance takes effect, it would get curtailed to two years.
Alleging that the government move amounted to breach of the covenant, Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom vice president D. Vijayakumar said any amendment to the TCHRI Act must have the approval of the President of India and clearance from the Union Law Ministry and the Prime Minister before sending it for the President’s approval. He hoped that the Governor would not give his assent to the ordinance without Presidential nod.
However, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said this was not the first time that the State government had curtailed the tenure of the Devaswom board.
The LDF government had reduced the board’s term from four years to two in 2007. The United Democratic Front (UDF) government had once again raised it to three years in 2014.
If the covenant was applicable to all such decisions, the matter should have come up in 2007 and 2014 as well.
That nobody raised an issue when the LDF and UDF governments took the decisions showed that the government was justified.
As can be seen from the LDF government’s decision in 2007, it is the LDF’s policy that the tenure of the Devaswom Board should be two years, he said.