IAS officer challenges Jayakumar’s appointment as TDB president

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.