Serving IAS officer B. Ashok has moved the District Court, Thiruvananthapuram, challenging the appointment of former Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar as president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
Mr. Ashok has reportedly sought Mr. Jayakumar’s disqualification on the grounds that the latter is already holding the post of Director in the Institute of Management in Government (IMG), a State government institution.
Section 7 (iii) of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, notes that “no person shall be eligible for election or nomination as a member of the board if such a person is an office-holder or a servant of government.”
The State government’s decision to appoint Mr. Jayakumar had grabbed headlines in November.
After he retired from service in 2012, Mr. Jayakumar was appointed as Director of IMG in 2018.
Mr. Jayakumar told reporters that Mr. Ashok’s petition was against the State government’s decision and that the government would provide an appropriate response with its machinery.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described Mr. Ashok’s decision to approach the court as something that, under normal circumstances, should not have happened. Mr. Vijayan was speaking at a meet-the-press programme in Kochi. Mr. Jayakumar was a retired IAS officer and cannot be considered to be in government service still, the Chief Minister said.
His appointment as TDB president was welcomed by all including Ayyappa devotees. The board members also have accepted him, Mr. Vijayan said.
Published – December 05, 2025 11:08 pm IST
