10% quota in Devaswom boards to stay

Confusion prevails over legal validity after apex court verdict in Maratha case

The 10% economic reservation introduced in the employment in Devaswom Boards of Kerala will continue uninterrupted, though confusion prevails in the State over the legal validity of the economic quota.

It was the recent verdict of the Supreme Court in the Maratha reservation case, which fixed an upper limit of 50% for reservation, that has triggered the confusion. The 10% economic quota was prescribed over and above the statutory 50% caste-based reservation, thus taking the total reservation to 60% in the State.

However, the court order will have no bearing in the Devaswom boards as the 10% reservation provided for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is contained well within the 50% limit.

The employment in Devaswom boards is limited to members of the Hindu communities as the job involves the management of around 1,800 Hindu temples and the temple-related rituals.

The board had earlier allowed 32% caste-based reservation and left 68% appointment in open merit. Along with the introduction of the economic reservation, the board reduced the quota in the open category to 50% and increased the total reservation to 50%, said M. Rajagopalan Nair, chairman, Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board.

The revised reservation scheme thus introduced in the board enabled an additional 3% reservation for Ezhava community taking the total allocation for the community to 17%. The quota for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was increased to 12% by adding an extra 2% to its existing share. The reservation pie of Other Backward Hindu Communities was increased to 6% from the existing 3% while maintaining the reservation quota of Viswakarma (3%), Dheevara and Hindu Nadar communities (1% each), he said.

So far, the recruitment board has facilitated the employment of around 30 candidates under the EWS quota and more hands will be appointed under the quota in the coming days. The first appointments in the Guruvayur and Malabar Devaswoms since the introduction of the caste-based reservation would also happen shortly, Mr. Nair said.

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