The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Devaswom Bill referred to Subject Committee

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Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Devaswom Bill referred to Subject Committee

Special Correspondent

Sudhakaran quotes scriptures to counter Opposition criticisms

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Assembly referred the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2007, to its Subject Committee on Wednesday, after a six-hour discussion.

Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran, who piloted the Bill, quoted freely from the Bible, the Koran and the Hindu epics to counter criticism from the Opposition about the content (and not the spirit) of the Bill.

The Bill covers the functions of the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Cochin Devaswom Board. Its passage to the Subject Committee was with unanimous support.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the intention of the Bill was to prevent corruption in the devaswom boards and ensure the involvement of women and socially backward sections in the administration of the temples in the State.

The functions of the Devaswom Boards are now governed by the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act of 1950. This Act does not ensure the representation of women and backward sections in the devaswom boards.

One clause in the introduced Bill specifies that one of the three members of the devaswom board should be a woman and another a person belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe.

Another clause specifies that the recruitment of ministerial and administrative staff (which should be from among Hindu candidates only) in the devaswom boards should be through the State Public Service Commission.

Yet another clause is to invest with the Government the power to appoint a commission to conduct inquiries in the event of charges of corruption/ misadministration in the devaswom boards.

Kerala Congress(M) MLA K.M. Mathew and Congress MLA V.D. Satheeshan argued that, while they agree to the need for preventing corruption, the Bill could be challenged in the court as against the Constitution.

For instance, the provision specifying the woman member and the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe member in the devaswom boards is against the covenant between the Travancore King and the State at the time of the transfer of the Devaswom affairs to the State and the Constitution honours all such covenants, they said.

Mr. Sudhakaran packed his speech with theological and philosophical observations to counter these criticisms and finally win the unanimous support of the Assembly for sending the Bill to the Subject Committee.

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