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Kerala HC quashes 80:20 distribution of minority scholarships
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala high court on Friday quashed the state government orders providing merit-cum-means scholarships at 80% to the Muslim community and 20% to Latin Catholic and Converted Christian students
Thiruvananthapuram:
The Kerala high court on Friday quashed the state government orders providing merit-cum-means scholarships at 80% to the Muslim community and 20% to Latin Catholic and Converted Christian students.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly directed the Kerala government to formulate a fresh plan that will benefit students of both communities equally. The court said the directorate of minority welfare board’s order was not legally sustainable.
The court’s order came on a petition filed by one Justin P of Palakkad in which he said the fixation ratio was not based on actual population of these two communities and was highly biased and the state government was supporting one particular community.
But the government argued that unemployment rate among Muslim community was 52%, Christians 31.9% and backward Hindus 40%. Besides, the government also pointed to the Sachar Committee report, which clearly emphasised the backwardness of Muslims in education field and need to improve their educational conditions. However, the court said the decision of the government was unconstitutional and unsupported by law.
As part of the scheme, the Kerala government provides 5,000 scholarships to degree and post-graduate students, especially women students, every year. The scheme was later extended to students from Latin Catholic and converted Christians. In 2015, an order was formulated to give 80% scholarship to Muslims and 20% to Christians. The move was challenged in the court. Several church leaders have been complaining about the same for quite some time, prompting chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to keep the minority welfare portfolio with him this time.
