KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday held that status quo be maintained with respect to the state government’s ordinance to reduce the tenure of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) members from three to two years. The Bench said that A Padmakumar and K P Sankaradas, newly appointed president and member of TDB, respectively, can continue to function if they had already assumed charge.
The court also passed the order when a writ petition challenging the ordinance terminating former president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and member Ajay Tharayil and reducing the term of the Travancore Devaswom Board from three to two years came up for consideration. The state government submitted both the newly appointed persons had already taken charge.
In their petition, Prayar Gopalakrishnan and Ajay Tharayil, both appointed by the previous UDF Government, pointed out that the Supreme Court had held that the power of ordinance making cannot be exercised for extraneous or political considerations. The ordinance making is now subject to judicial review and can be interdicted if sufficient grounds are made out, including grounds of mala fide, political motive and misuse of power of ordinance making.
The Supreme Court had held in T P Senkumar’s case that the state government cannot alter the tenure fixed in an Act. Thus, the government has acted without jurisdiction by interfering with the tenure.
According to the petitioners, they are entitled to hold office until their tenure expires as per section 10 of the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Act, which fixed the tenure.