Travancore Devaswom Board to decide on non-brahmin priest at Chettikulangara temple

ALAPPUZHA: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will take a final decision on appointment of a non-Brahmin priest to Chettikulangara temple on Monday in the wake of a controversy after the resolution passed by RSS backed Sreedevi Vilasam Hindu Matha Convention rejected a non-Brahmin priest to the temple. Prayar Gopalakrishnan, President, TDB, told Deccan Chronicle that the Board meeting will be held on Monday to discuss the matter. “We will take a decision that could find favour with both the parties. At this juncture, I cannot tell whether the appointment order will be upheld or not,” he said.

The TDB stepped into the matter after this newspaper published report on the issue on July 17. Last week, the TDB chief had sought report in this regard from Devaswom commissioner. It was on June 14, Mr Sudhikumar, Palazhi, Cheravally near Kayamkulam, who was serving as priest for 12 years, got a transfer notice from the Board. He was told to join Chettikulangara temple by July.

However, TDB officials kept the transfer order in abeyance after resolution of Hindu Matha Convention passed on June 30 said that the temple did not require a non-Brahmin priest. After the resolution passed at the Convention drew flak from various quarters, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Sunday he will launch a protest meet in front of temple against the convention.

Apart from this, another protest participating 100 priests will be held at the temple in support of Sudhikumar.  SNDP Yogam Mavelikara Union, Hindu Ikya Vedi and Congress leaders KC Venugopal and M Liju have already come out with protest against the Convention.   Meanwhile, Sudhikumar on Thursday registered a complaint with Chief Minister and State Police Chief against Sijith Thampi, a senior Clerk with Kerala Police, Thiruvananthapuram for posting objectionable Facebook post against Sudhikumar in connection with his appointment to temple. In the post (published with picture of Sudhikumar) he asked Sudhikumar that “ he had to go for tap the toddy instead of priesting”.

Legal experts say objecting a person from being priest at a temple in the name of cast or colour is violation of Supreme Court verdicts. Considering a case from Tamil Nadu on December 16, 2015,  the Supreme Court had extended every citizen’s fundamental right to freedom of religion to include the said religion’s core practices. Thebench 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 parameter. This would mean that there should be no discrimination while appointing priests. Meanwhile, M K Rajeev, Secretary, Sreedevi Vilasam Hindu Matha Convention said that they would accept whatever decision TDB takes in this regard.