Citing the practice in central government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya schools, the petitioners seeking the court’s intervention to allow Muslim students to wear the hijab while attending class urged the Karnataka high court on Monday to issue a “positive mandate” allowing headscarves of the same colour as institution uniforms to be worn.
The state government issued an order to “maintain the status quo”, which was cited by several colleges and schools that have a uniform to turn away Muslim students wearing a hijab since these were not separately recognised.
“I am not only challenging the GO (government order) but also asking for a positive mandate for allowing me to wear a headscarf of the same colour as the uniform,” senior counsel Devadatt Kamat, appearing on behalf of the students, told the high court on Monday.
Kamat referred to the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s order issued on February 5.
A three-judge bench of chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, justice JM Khazi and justice Krishna M Dixit was hearing multiple petitions, of which the first was filed by the protesting Muslim students from Udupi.
Kamat said that the GO itself was “totally erroneous” and the delegation of decision-making being conferred upon a non-statutory body such as the College Development Committee (CDC) was “totally illegal”.
{{/usCountry}}Kamat said that the GO itself was “totally erroneous” and the delegation of decision-making being conferred upon a non-statutory body such as the College Development Committee (CDC) was “totally illegal”.
{{/usCountry}}“A CDC comprising an MLA is an extra-constitutional authority and a third party to decide what to wear. The government has assigned its responsibility to this third party,” Kamat said.
The chairman of the CDC is BJP MLA Raghupathi Bhat and the vice-chairman is Yashpal Suvarna, the national treasurer of the saffron outfit’s OBC morcha.
Kamat responded to the chief justice on a question about the time from which students wore a hijab, to which he said that Muslim girls were not demanding a different uniform but to wear a headscarf of the same colour.
“Kendriya Vidyalayas even today they permit by a notification, that even though they have a uniform, Muslim girls are permitted to wear a headscarf of the uniform colour,” Kamat said.
The issue has attracted global attention, sparking a debate on the treatment of minority communities in India, the petitioners argued, seeking interim relief from the court to allow the students to attend classes while it deliberates on the matter and gives a final verdict.
The controversy broke out in December last year when at least eight Muslim students were denied entry to their classroom with the hijab. The order of the college came after months of negotiations between parents, college authorities and other stakeholders.
The Bommai government on Monday ordered reopening of high schools but asserted that the status quo will be maintained. The chief minister said the state government will be issuing a standard operating procedure for schools to deal with the uniform dress code. Legislators from the opposition Congress protested in the state assembly on Monday. The high court will resume hearing the case on Tuesday.