CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the CPM would challenge in court the proposed Devaswom Ordinance when it is promulgated.
He told a news conference here that the UDF government’s move to seek an affidavit from the Hindu MLAs that they believe in God as a precondition to vote for the Devaswom Board Members’ election was anti- constitutional.
He said the issue had already been examined in various courts and as a final verdict, the full bench of the High Court in 1999 had ruled that MLAs voting for the election of Devaswom Board member need not proclaim whether they were believers or not. But it had made it clear that only believers should be allowed to be members of the Devaswom Board.
Vijayan said the Charvaka sect in the Hindu religion had been atheists. He asked the government to make it clear from whom it had received the legal advice that those atheists are not Hindus. “Has the government got advice from the Advocate-General or the Law Department in this regard,” he asked.
He said it was a political decision of the UDF government. He objected to the decision to avoid women members from the board. “ Seventy percent of the devotees who go to the temple are women. In view of the fact that the LDF Government had reserved seat for a woman member on the Devaswom Board, the present move of the government is an injustice to women” he said. The present trend was to ensure women representation in all spheres of life. But now the government is eliminating the representation of women.
He also criticised the move to form a separate recruitment board for devaswom appointment instead of handing it over to the PSC as decided by the previous LDF government.
‘’The government is not sure whether it will survive for another three years, the minimum period required for forming such a board. Meantime, they are aiming to make it an opportunity to make money,’’ he alleged. He said the TDB and PSC had already prepared the rules for the recruitment of staff for Devaswom Board. The Cochin Devaswom Board also has prepared the rules for recruitment.
He also hinted at the Opposition approaching the Governor not to promulgate the ordinance citing anti-constitutional provisions.