Travancore Devaswom Board undecided on appointing non-Brahmin priest

ALAPPUZHA: The Travancore Devaswom Board is dilly-dallying on the appointment of a non-Brahmin priest to  the Chettikulangara temple though the High Court had asked it on July 7 to take a decision within a month.  Mr Prayar Gopalakrishnan, TDB president, said that it could not take up the issue as Monday and Tuesday were holidays for the board.  “There is no need to make it a big issue as it should be resolved thro-ugh consensus,” he said. Mr Sudhikumar, Palazhi, Cheravally near Kayam-kulam, who has served as priest for the last 12 years in various temples  under the TDB, was  transferred to Chettikulangara temple on June 14 and asked to join it by July 1. 

However, the  Sreedevi Vilasam Hindu Matha convention passed a resolution on June 30 against the appointment of a non-Brahmin priest and sent a copy of the resolution to the devaswom commissioner. The issue came to light after the Kannamangalam south kara revolted against the resolution.  The convention also filed a writ petition in the High Court.  The affidavit submitted to the court said that no person other than a Malayala Brahmin who underwent rituals up to ‘samvarthanam’ of ‘sho-dasa samskaram’ is exponent in the jeevitha dance and should not be appointed  as keezsaanthi (assistant priest) of the  temple. 

A division bench of Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon and Justice V. Shircy directed the TDB  to consider the matter and pass appropriate orders  after getting the relevant documents and also  hearing the petitioner and other interested parties within one month. However, Mr Sudhi-kumar, the priest, said that he had received no orders from the TDB so far. A Supreme Court verdict passed on December 16, 2015 had supported the appointment of non-Brahmin priests.  A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi upheld a Hindu temple’s right to appoint priests  on the basis of individual traditionally codified practices, but underlined that inclusion or exclusion as per the religious code should not be based on the criteria of caste, birth or any other constitutionally unacceptable parameters.  There should be no discrimination while appointing priests, it  had said.