Plea in SC against Kerala order on scholarships to minorities

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New Delhi, September 3

A petition in the Supreme Court has challenged the Kerala Government’s decision to distribute scholarships to minorities in ratio of their population.

Filed by the All-India Backward Classes Federation and Muslim Employees Cultural Association, the petition contended that distributing scholarships to minorities only in accordance with their respective share in the state’s population violated Article 15(1) that guarantees non-discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

A Bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee clubbed the petition with other such petitions after senior counsel Salman Khurshid, representing the petitioner, cited the top court’s ruling in Indra Sawhney versus Union of India (1992) and contended that socio-economic criteria couldn’t be decided solely on the basis of population. The state government has already moved the top court against the HC verdict on the issue.

According to the 2011 Census, Kerala has 54.73 per cent Hindus, 26.56 per cent Muslims, 18.38 per cent Christians and 0.33 per cent other religious minorities. The total population of the minority communities stood at 45.27 per cent. Of this, 58.67 per cent are Muslims, 40.6 per cent Christians and 0.73 per cent other minorities.

The petitioner submitted that Muslims were socially and educationally more backward than other minority groups in Kerala.

The Kerala Government should take into account that in the Indra Sawney case, the top court had permitted sub-classification of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) as “backward” and “more backward” based on a comparative analysis of their degree of backwardness.

The petition contended that by neglecting the recommendations made by the Sachar Committee and Paloli Committee reports, the Kerala Government has violated Articles 15(3) and (4) of the Constitution.

Opposes funding on population basis

Petition claims distributing scholarships to minorities only in accordance with their respective share in the state’s population violates Article 15(1) that guarantees non-discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.