Insistence on Priests Being From Specific Caste is Not Essential Religious Practice, Rules Kerala HC

New Delhi: The Kerala high court on Wednesday (October 22) ruled that the insistence on having a priest to be from a particular caste or lineage to be eligible for appointment cannot, be interpreted as an insistence upon an essential religious practice.

A division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice K.V. Jayakumar refused to accept the argument of Akhila Kerala Thanthri Samajam (AKTS) that the appointment of shanthis (temple priests) has to be done in accordance with traditional practice and cannot be diluted by subordinate legislation, reported LiveLaw.

The high court subsequently dismissed the writ petition filed by the AKTS that had challenged the
accreditation and recognition granted to institutions described as 'Thanthra Vidyalayas' by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board (KDRB).

"In such circumstances, to insist that a person must belong to a particular caste or lineage to be eligible for appointment cannot, in our considered view, be construed as an insistence upon an essential religious practice, rite, or mode of worship. No factual or legal foundation has been established to justify such a claim in the present case. The contention that individuals unconnected with spiritual functions are being considered for such posts and that this infringes the fundamental rights of the petitioners guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India is untenable,” said the court.

Earlier the petition filed by the AKTS had challenged the notifications issued by KDRB, wherein it had prescribed a certificate from the Tantra Vidya Peetoms recognised by it as one of the qualifications to be appointed as part-time shantis(priests) in various temples.

The AKTS had said that the rules were framed without proper discussion with stakeholders, including the traditional thanthri community. The petition argued that this had resulted in a situation where many persons are unjustly excluded from being appointed as priests solely because they are not affiliated with the new institutions issuing certificates.

In response, the State, which was one of the respondents had said that hereditary certification of shanthis undermines the democratic aspect of the basic structure of the Constitution because it restricts priesthood to only a few.

The TDB submitted in the court that AKTS have not suffered any legal injury and they were veiling a public interest litigation as a private interest litigation.

In a counter affidavit filed in the court, the KDBR said that the decision to expand the list of approved institution imparting thanthri education was taken after it it noticed that there were very few representations from the marginalised communities owing to the fact that there was no unified system of conducted of such course.

“The petitioners have not been able to establish before us that the Rule-making authority is bereft of any legislative competence or that there is a failure to conform to the statute under which the Rule has been made. We have already held that the claim that the Rules would violate the rights guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution cannot be countenanced,” said the court and dismissed the AKTS writ petition after hearing all the parties, reported LiveLaw.

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