PIL in Kerala High Court alleges Muslims, Christians pampered in the State; minority status should be reassessed

A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking directions to be issued to the Central government and the National Commission for Minorities urging them to reassess the minority status of Muslims and Christians in the State of Kerala and redetermine the list of minorities (Citizens Association for Democracy, Equality, Tranquility, and Secularism (CADETS) v. Union of India & Ors.).A Division bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly heard the Public Interest Litigation this week and reserved orders in the matter..The petition, filed by the Citizen’s Association for Democracy, Equality, Tranquility, and Secularism (CADETS), claimed their objective is to fight against the discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, sex etc. and to uphold the principles of secularism. Further, they avowed that they have no personal or private interest in this matter..The plea claimed that the minority status of Muslims and Christians in Kerala needs to be redetermined since they are no longer socially or educationally backward.The petitioner alleged that the State Government has not mustered the courage to reassess the minority status due to fear of upsetting the status quo prompting the petitioner to approach the Court.."Pampering of the Christian and Muslim communities in financial, occupational, professional, educational fields would be a serious jolt to the secular structure of constitutional democracy and the same may lead to multi-nationalism," the plea said..Advocate C Rajendran, appearing for the petitioners, primarily argued on the ground that under Article 15(4) of the Constitution of India, special provisions are contemplated only in regard to the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens. He relied on the judgments of the Supreme Court in Bal Patil and Anr. vs. Union of India and Ors to muster this argument.He submitted that even if absolute numbers are taken into account, in 2021, the two communities would still constitute over 50 percent of the population even though as per the Census of 2011, this is not the case..He contended that in Kerala specifically, Muslims and Christians are not socially and educationally backward. Rather, over the years, they have passed Hindus in terms of education and socio-economic background and their status is to be re-determined. In this regard, Rajendran cited the judgment of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai v State of Karnataka in which it was held that it is the State in relation to which the religious majority or minority status will have to be determined.Adding to the allegations in this case, he submitted that the report of the Paloli Muhammed Committee suppressed material facts in order to give undue advantage to Muslims and, therefore, the report cannot be acted upon. .In conclusion, he argued that "the Executive have not so far mustered the courage to determine the minority by taking the state as the unit as it is a sensitive issue and it is very easy for the Govt. to maintain status quo. So it is high time for the Central Government to re-determine the status of a community by taking into account the State as a unit"..On these grounds, among others, CADETS prayed for a direction to the Centre and National Commission for Minorities to re-determine the minority status of Muslim and Christian communities by considering the State of Kerala as a separate unit.