The government has approved a set of amendments to the Devaswom Recruitment Reservation Rules, 2018, paving the way for economic reservation in appointments to the four Devaswom boards in the State.
Till now, caste-based reservation was followed in the appointments to the Travancore, Cochin, Guruvayur, and Koodalmanikam Devaswom boards. Now, 10% of the jobs will go for economically backward candidates from upper caste Hindu communities.
Last week, the Revenue (Devaswom) Department issued an order approving the amendments. It also approved the amendments for increasing the reservation quota for the backward communities that were enjoying the benefit in Devaswom jobs.
The decision is likely to stir up a controversy as various backward class community organisations, including the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam and the Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabha, had opposed it earlier. They had termed economic reservation unconstitutional.
Law Secretary B.G. Hareendranath, advising the government against introducing economic reservation, had stated that the move was against constitutional provisions. Citing some of the decisions of the Supreme Court, he pointed out that the proposal to reserve posts solely on economic basis was a violation of the Supreme Court decisions. At the same time, organisations such as the Nair Service Society (NSS) have been demanding economic reservation in place of caste-based reservation.
Incidentally, several youths belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Hindu Communities had been appointed as priests in temples of these broads through caste-based reservation, introduced by the government last year.
The government has also asked the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board (KDRB) to bring amendments to the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Rules to provide reservation to candidates of the forward communities.
The board will soon bring in the amendments to its recruitment rules as desired by the government, said M. Rajagopalan Nair, Chairman of the board.
Economic criteria
The Devaswom boards have also been asked to fix “the upper income limit of the economically weaker sections of unreserved categories” in consultation with the KDRB.
Fixing of the upper income limit is akin to identifying the creamy layer among the communities to exclude economically affluent candidates from the ambit of reservation.
