Checkbox checked not working in meteor table

been at this for a while now. Basically I have a table, in each table row there is a checkbox. However any input field I place in the rows of the table (this includes those input boxes) I cannot set the default value. So even with the "checked" flag in HTML the boxes remain unchecked....

<form id="form" action="#" class="wizard-big">
                        <h1>Requirements</h1>
                        <fieldset>
                            <h2>Set Requirements</h2>


                                <table class="table table-striped">
                                    <thead>
                                    <tr>
                                        <th></th>
                                        <th>COL1 </th>
                                        <th>COL2 </th>
                                        <th>COL3 </th>
                                        <th>COL4 E</th>
                                    </tr>
                                    </thead>
                                    <tbody>
                                      
                                      <tr>
                                        <td>
                                          <input type="checkbox" class="i-checks" checked="checked" name="check[]">
                                          
                                          <input type="checkbox" class="i-checks" name="check[]">
                                          
                                        </td>
                                          <td></td>
                                          <td><input type="text" placeholder="" value=""></td>
                                          <td style="color:"></td>
                                          <td style="color:"></td>
                                      </tr>
                                      
                                    </tbody>
                                </table>
                        </fieldset>

the relevant JS

Template.E4E_collateral.rendered = function(){

// Initialize steps plugin
$("#wizard").steps();

$("#form").steps({
    bodyTag: "fieldset",
  });

$('.i-checks').iCheck({
checkboxClass: 'icheckbox_square-green',
radioClass: 'iradio_square-green'
});