A week ago, the Malabar Devaswom Board Employees Union, affiliated to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions and a feeder organisation of the ruling CPI-M, started a protest against the Board's delay in implementing the pay revision. Even though the Kerala Temple Employees Coordination Committee has been protesting for the same cause for several months, the union joining the cause shows the extent of despair the employees felt.
The story so far
The Malabar Devaswom Board has a story of an unending struggle by the employees for around 30 years. Unlike the Travancore Devaswom Board that governs the temples in the southern districts and the Kochi Devaswom Board that manages the temples in central Kerala, the Malabar Devaswom Board, which is responsible for around 1,500 temples in the northern districts, is rather new.
Long after the Travancore and Kochi Devaswom Boards were formed, the temples in North Kerala, erstwhile Malabar district of the Madras Presidency, were still being controlled by various temple trusts and were governed by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act of Madras Presidency. For long, the employees at the temples in this region had no stable income and depended upon peanuts from the respective trusts, other than the 'Dakshina' from devotees.
The Malabar Devaswom Staff Union started the protest raising their issues in 1989. The disparity between the wages of the employees was so huge that a temple help was paid around ₹6 a month while a manager got ₹2000. A report in The Hindu on this situation in 1994 caught the attention of the Kerala High Court that registered a case suo motu.
The court then directed the State to constitute a Malabar Devaswom Board and to set up an umbrella board for all the Devaswom Boards in the State. The court asked to set up a common fund to improve the financial condition of the temples. It called for a special project to be implemented in six months to ensure proper wages for temple employees in North Kerala similar to that of Travancore and Kochi.
Even though the State contested the Order in the Supreme Court, it was rejected citing that the demands of the employees and temples were just. The State sought out reasons not to implement the Order several times and whenever the Bill to constitute Malabar Devaswom Board was brought up in the Assembly, it fell flat.
Around 10 court orders, several contempt of court petitions and nine commissions to study the issue, the Malabar Devaswom Board came into effect officially on October 2, 2008, as an amendment to the HR&CE Act. A pay scale for the employees was set up in March 2009, though the wages were still very low.
What is the present issue that concerns the employees?
Years after the Devaswom Board was formed, it still remained useless for the temple employees, as it did not actively engage in their issues or exert powers. Meanwhile, with the rising living expenses, the employees had their going tough and started demanding a pay revision. After years of protest, a pay revision was announced in 2019. Besides, the Board also offered several benefits to the employees, on par with government employees in the State, such as wage arrears, payment for temporary appointments, to collect flowers for puja, spectacle allowance, risk allowance, dress allowance, maternity leave and so on. A punching system was to be introduced in temples that made enough profit. However, all that remained on paper.
In actuality, several employees had their wages pending for months. The complications in their welfare fund even prevented the payment of pensions to some of the retired employees. The revised pay scale too had faults.
The Kerala Temple Employees Coordination Committee carried out an indefinite strike at the Board headquarters for 64 days, until the then Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran intervened and assured the protestors that their demands would be met. A year and half later, the demands are yet to be met. Meanwhile, the Devaswom Commissioner froze the pay revision citing technical reasons and anomalies in it, which further agitated the employees who are once again on the strike path.
Is there a solution to this issue?
The report submitted by the K. Gopalakrishnan Committee in 2017 on the issues faced by the temple employees, is yet to be taken into consideration by the State. The report called for a re-grading of the temples based on the number of poojas held, so that the employees got paid based on their workload. The report also suggested the formation of a common fund under the Malabar Devaswom Board so that even temples with low income could be supported. The employees feel that the report, if implemented, could benefit them.
Meanwhile, the Board claims to have cleared the anomalies in the pay revision and submitted it to the State for clearance. Once cleared and implemented without glitches, the employees can heave a breath of relief.
Will the government pass the proposed Bill in the Assembly?
The State government is planning to enact a comprehensive law for the Malabar Devaswom Board. The plan is to rectify anomalies and implement the recommendations of the pay revision. However, it is yet to be presented in the Legislative Assembly. Considering its current financial situation, it is likely for the State government to drag the Bill further.
