Kerala Govt sub-classification of minorities by giving 80% scholarships to Muslims and 20% to Christians unconstitutional: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Friday quashed an order issued by Kerala government which gave merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 percent to Muslim community and 20 percent to the Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians..A Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly said that the orders were not legally sustainable and directed the State government to provide merit-cum-means scholarships to members of notified minority communities equally..The plea, a public interest litigation petition, was filed before the Kerala High Court by a person belonging to the Roman Catholic community alleging that the government orders gave undue preference to the Muslim community in Kerala..The scholarship scheme that was questioned by the petitioner was announced pursuant to proposals submitted by a 11-member committee. .The 11-member Sachar Committee was a high level committee set-up to report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India..The petitioner also relied on a scholarship announced by the Union Government in 2006, where scholarships were provided to students belonging to minority communities, on a merit-cum-means basis as well. .The Court said that on a reading of Articles 14 and 15, it was clear that the State is endowed with a duty coupled with an obligation to look after the welfare and well being of the socially, educationally and economically weaker sections of citizens irrespective of the special provisions dealing with minorities.Therefore, there is nothing wrong in the State government providing facilities to weaker sections of the community, but when it comes to dealing with the notified minorities, it has to treat them equally, and it is not vested with any powers to treat them unequally. .However, in the present case, the State government without taking into account the entitlement of the Christian minority community within the State available from the population ratio, provided scholarship to the Muslim minority community at 80 percent. ."It 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," the judgment stated. Article 29 also casts a duty to protect the educational interests of the minority community in equal measure and not in a discriminatory manner, the Court added. .Further, the National Commission for Minority Act, 1992 and the Kerala State Commission for Minorities Act, 2014 envision the Commission to treat the minority communities as a whole, the Court said. "If at all the development of weaker sections among each of the minority communities is required, the Commission is to take into account the requirements of such weaker sections in each of the communities and divide the merit-cum-means scholarship equally by and between the members of the minority communities," the judgment stated. The State government, however, sub-classified the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 percent to Muslim community and 20 percent to the Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians, the Court noted. In this regard, the Court placed reliance on the 2005 Supreme Court judgment in Chinnaiah v. State of AP in which the top court held that except for a limited power of making an exclusion or inclusion in the list by an act of Parliament, there is no provision either to sub-divide, sub-classify or sub-group the castes which are found in the presidential list of Scheduled Castes."In our considered view, the Union Government in contemplation of section 2(c) of the Act, 1992 has notified six communities as minority communities in India which includes Muslims and Christians and therefore, the principles contained in the judgment in Chinnaiah supra would squarely apply to the facts and circumstances to the case at hand," the High Court held. .Hence, the Court ruled that action of the State government in sub-classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 percent to Muslim community and 20 percent to the Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians cannot be legally sustained..The orders issued by the State government are in utter violation of the constitutional mandates contained under Articles 14, 15, 29 and 30, the State Government has issued the orders, the Court concluded. .[Read Judgment]