Order quashing 80% scholarship to muslims in Kerala challenged in Supreme Court

A Muslim minority trust based in Kerala has approached Supreme Court challenging the Kerala High Court order, quashing the distribution of 80 percent of minority scholarship to the Muslims in the state.

The Kerala High Court division bench of Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly on May 28, 2021, had quashed the order of Kerala Directorate Of Minority Welfare Board of distributing scholarships to Muslim and Latin Catholic and Converted Christian students at the ratio of 80:20. 

“We are of the considered opinion that the action of the State Government in sub- classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80% to the Muslim community and 20% to the Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians cannot be legally sustained. In that view of the matter, we quash Exhibits P2, P3 and P4 orders of the State Government deliberated above in detail, and hereby direct the Kerala State Government to pass requisite and appropriate Government orders providing merit-cum-means scholarship to the members of the notified minority communities within the State equally and in accordance with the latest population census available with the State Minority Commission,” Court said. 

The Court had said that the order of the welfare board was not legally sustainable and had directed the government to formulate a fresh plan which would benefit students of both communities equally. 

Order was passed against the backdrop of the plea filed by Justin P of Palakkad in which he averred that the fixation ratio was not based on the actual population of these two communities, was highly biased and the state government was supporting one particular community.

The petitioner had also averred that while most of the socio, economic and educational empowerment schemes and programs of the Central Government were meant for the socio-economically poor and downtrodden sections of the society including the six centrally notified minorities while implementing various schemes in the State of Kerala there was marked discrimination favoring one minority against other minority communities without any rationale.

The government while emphasizing the findings of the Sachar Committee report which had clearly emphasized the backwardness of Muslims in the education field and a need to improve their educational conditions had submitted that the unemployment rate among the Muslim community was 52 percent, Christians 31.9 and backward Hindus 40 percent. 

The Court however said that the Government’s decision was unconstitutional and unsupported by law. 

As part of the scheme, the state government provided 5000 scholarships to degree and post-graduate students, especially women students, every year. The scheme was later extended to students from Latin Catholic and converted Christians. 

In 2015 an order was formulated as per which Muslims were to be given  80 percent and 20 percent to Christians and this was challenged in the court.