Kerala High Court quashes plea against appointing OBC community member at Thrissur temple

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Friday disposed of petitions against appointing an OBC community member at the Sree Koodalmanikyam temple at Irinjalakuda in Thrissur.

The Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board's recruitment of a member of Hindu - Ezhava OBC community to the 'Kazhakam' (garland making and associated works) post at the temple was challenged by a member of the Hindu Varrier upper caste family claiming traditional rights over the post.

The division bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S disposed of the petition citing that the dispute over the traditional rights has to be decided by a civil court.

The recruitment board initially recruited Balu B A, who is from the Hindu-Ezhava OBC community, to the 'Kazhakam' post. But the temple tantris from the upper caste community kept off from performing poojas for several days in protest against it and insisted that only members of upper caste communities like Varrier should be appointed as 'Kazhakam'. Balu later tendered resignation citing personal reasons, though it was believed to be due to the discrimination he faced.

The next person in the recruitment board's rank list, K S Anurag, was also from the Ezhava community.

Subsequently a section of members of the upper caste approached the court citing that the 'Kazhakam' job is traditionally performed by the upper caste Varrier community members.