KOCHI: Kerala government has informed the high court that only Hindus will be appointed as Devaswom Board Commissioner. The high court asked the Devaswom board to submit the above decision as an affidavit in the court.

What is under the consideration of the court is a petition questioning the amendment brought to Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950 that allows a non-Hindu also as Devaswom board commissioner.

The petitioners include BJP State president PS Sreedharan Pillai and Devaswom board former president Prayar Gopalakrishnan.

The amendment expunge് the condition that Devaswom Commissioner should be a Hindu. When Section 29 of the act was amended, the rule allowed non-Hindus to get appointed as the commissioner. This also took away the right of the Devaswom board to appoint commissioners.

The allegation of the petitioner is that the amendment impinged on the religious rights of the Hindus. The petitioners further demanded that the amendment be declared illegal and stayed through an interim order.