PIL against scholarships for religious minorities

A PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court against a scholarship scheme for religious minorities with 20,000 scholarships on merit and income basis.

A PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court against a scholarship scheme for religious minorities.

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The scheme, launched by Union Ministry of Minority Affairs last year, provides students of Muslim, Sikh, Christian and Parsi communities with 20,000 scholarships on merit and income basis.

Petitioner Sanjeev Punalekar, a city-based advocate, has taken exception to it saying "it excludes Hindus and Jains, who constitute eighty per cent of the population." Such "discrimination" on the basis of religion is against the Constitutional principle of equality, the petition said.

Further, it violates freedom of Hindus and Jains to practice their respective religions, as the sops to other religionists "make them (Hindus and Jains) more vulnerable to the allurement" and lead to conversions, the PIL alleged.

Last week, division bench of Justices J N Patel and V K Tahilramani posted the petition after four weeks for hearing, asking the Centre to file its reply.