Allotting 80 pc minority scholarships to Muslim community cannot be legally sustained: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court on Friday held that action of the state government in sub classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 per cent to the Muslim community and 20 per cent to the Latin Catholic Christians and converted Christians cannot be legally sustained.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly ruled that the benefits should be in proportion to the population of the various minorities.

The High Court also asked to take the current census into account. The court's ruling came on a plea filed by Advocate Justin Pallivathukkal.

In 2015, the government issued an order for providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 per cent to the Muslim community and 20 per cent to the Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians.

The High Court order was issued on a petition filed by Justin Pallivathukkal, a native of Palakkad district against the 2015 order.

According to the petition, "separating minorities into Muslims and Christians is against secularism. The government benefits should be made available to all minorities in proportion to their population."

Earlier, the state government appointed a committee to study the educational and economic backwardness of the Christian backward classes. The committee lead by Justice JB Koshy. The government had submitted the committee's report to the court. The court also considered this while hearing the petition.

( With inputs from ANI )

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