Kerala HC's quashing of Muslim scholarship: SC seeks Centre's response

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Union government and others on an appeal against the Kerala High Court order which quashed the government scheme to provide minority scholarship to Muslims and Christians in 80:20 ratio.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said that it will issue the notice as soon as the case was taken, reported Live Law

The bench issued notices to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Kerala State Commission for Minorities and others in the Special Leave Petition filed by the Kerala government and sought their replies within four weeks.

The bench has also issued notice on two connected petitions, filed by private organizations, MSM Kerala State Committee and Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Trust, challenging the High Court verdict.

While Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh appeared for the State of Kerala, Advocate Haris Beeran, appeared for Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Trust, who was one of the additional respondents in the case in Kerala High Court.

Beeran submitted before the bench that the government order was in operation for the last 13 years and sought a stay on the High Court order but the bench was not inclined to consider that prayer at this stage, says the Live Law report.

In the May 28 order, the High Court had quashed the Kerala government orders sub-classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 per cent to the Muslim community and 20 per cent to Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians, saying it cannot be legally sustained.

The High Court had also directed the government to pass requisite and appropriate orders providing merit-cum-means scholarship to members of the notified minority communities within the state equally and in accordance with the latest population census available with the State Minority Commission.

The High Court had said, "Here is a case where without taking into account the entitlement of the Christian minority community within the state available from the population ratio, the state is indulging in providing scholarship to the Muslim minority community at 80 per cent, which according to us, is an unconstitutional act and unsupported by any law.

"Mere executive orders issued by the State Government cannot overreach the provisions of the Minority Commissions Acts, 1992 and 2014, and the imperatives contained under the provisions of the Constitution of India discussed above. Article 29 also casts a duty to protect the educational interests of the minority community in equal measure and not in a discriminatory manner."

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly gave the verdict in a PIL filed by a Christian person challenging the scheme.

Terming the High Court directions to be "irrational" and "erroneous", the State Government in its petition before Supreme Court has stated that the minority scholarship scheme was introduced on the basis of the reports of Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee and Kerala's Paloli Mohammad Kutty Committee regarding the educational backwardness in the Muslim community.