Lakshadweep Administration justifies contentious reforms in affidavit

Kochi: The Lakshadweep administration has decided to close down the dairy farms as the administration has to suffer a loss of more than Rs 90 lakhs per year to sustain the dairy farms, according to an affidavit filed by the administration in the Kerala High Court.

The affidavit was filed in response to public interest litigation filed by Lakshadweep MP, PP Mohammed Faizal challenging the decision of the administration to close down dairy farms in the islands.

As per an Indian Express report, the affidavit filed by the administration states that its decision to close down the farms has been taken after a thorough analysis of the functioning of the farms and the heavy loss sustained to the public exchequer.

It defended that it is a policy decision taken for valid reasons and informed the court that the policy had no relation to the proposed Animal Preservation Regulation.

The affidavit also denied the allegation of the petitioner that the ban on liquor had been lifted. The administration stated that it had recently issued licences for consumption and sale of alcohol to the Tourism Promotion Society (SPORTS) for serving liquor at three of its beach resorts to non-islanders and argued that it was to cater to the needs of tourists.

Regarding the decision to disengage excess casual employees working in various establishments, the administration argued that it was a step to prevent loss to the exchequer and added that no government could afford to keep casual employees and pay them without any work.

As for removing non-veg food from the midday meal menu, the administration said meat and chicken were normally part of the regular menu in almost all families while the consumption of fruits and dry fruits was very less among the islanders. Therefore, it argued that the removal of meat and chicken from the menu and inclusion of fruits and dry fruits was perfectly in tune with the objective of the midday meal scheme.

In another affidavit filed in response to a writ petition by Lakshadweep MP, Mohammed Faizal PP challenging the draft regulations, the administration said that an effective, meaningful and transparent consultation process was undertaken by the Administration in the case of all the regulations.

As for the MP's contention that the drafts of the proposed regulations were not published in vernacular language, the Administration said that there is no requirement under law to publish it in vernacular language, and Malayalam was not adopted as the official language of Lakshadweep.

The MP had approached the High Court as part of a campaign against the Lakshadweep Administration.

The contentions raised by the petitioners had already been considered and rejected by a Division Bench. The draft regulations were forwarded to the Home Ministry with the suggestions and objections received. The petitioners had approached the court intending to undo the initial phase of the regulation-making process, the affidavit added.