THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/KOCHI: Reports that the anti-reservation lobby in the Travancore Devaswom Board was behind the affidavit filed in the High Court against the government order to maintain reservation in teaching and non-teaching posts in schools and colleges of the Devaswom Boards. When the case was heard at 11 am on Monday, the board's advocate said that the Devaswom Board, an autonomous body, is not bound to comply with the government order.

The board's counsel informed the court that since appointments in schools were not left to the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board, the reservation policy of the government was not applicable and only the UGC Rules of 2018 were applicable in all the four colleges of the board.

Pointing out that this was the decision taken in a meeting attended by the Devaswom Minister and the board officials, Justice AA Ziyad Rehman allowed two weeks time for the board to submit its position in an affidavit. However, Board Secretary G. Baiju, who is scheduled to retire on May 31, submitted the anti-reservation affidavit at 4 pm at an extraordinary speed. The case will be considered again on June 10.

Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan responded that the Travancore Devaswom Board alone cannot be excluded from this.

The Left government decided to introduce reservations for all castes in the appointments in educational institutions under Devaswom Boards because they are fully funded by the government. Meanwhile, Cochin Devaswom Board president Dr. MK Sudarshanan informed that the Cochin Devaswom Board has approved the implementation of the reservation order in the board meeting held on May 22.