The Hindu : Kerala News : ‘All Devaswoms to come under Ombudsman’

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Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
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Kerala

‘All Devaswoms to come under Ombudsman’

Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA: The State government is planning to bring all Devaswom Boards in the State under the Ombudsman appointed by the High Court, Devaswom and Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran said on Friday.

Talking to reporters after a review meeting on the coir sector at the CoirFed office here, Mr. Sudhakaran said the government would discuss the issue with the Ombudsman and approach the court for necessary orders. He had already discussed the issue with Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Mr. Sudhakaran said.

Accusing “all Devaswom officials” of being corrupt, the Minister said Board members who were trying to bring about some sort of a change were also affected by the corrupt ways of the officials. This was one of the reasons for the move to bring all the Boards under an Ombudsman. The Kerala High Court had appointed the former High Court judge R. Bhaskaran as the Ombudsman for the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards last month.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the government was making efforts to solve the problems plaguing small-scale coir manufacturing units, which were in protest mode demanding a ban on depots and intermediaries who allegedly cornered coir export orders that should have come to the manufacturing units through the State Coir Corporation.

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