Plea In Supreme Court Against Kerala HC Judgment Quashing Govt. Scheme Allotting 80% Minority Scholarships To Muslims

The Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust has moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the Kerala High Court quashing Orders of the Kerala Government announcing scholarships to Muslim students and Latin Catholic/Converted Christians in the ratio 80:20.

The High Court had allowed the PIL filed by the respondent herein, consequently quashing three Government Orders by an order dated 18th May 2021.

These Government Orders aimed at affirmative actions to improve the economic and social upliftment of the Muslim community, granting scholarships and hostel stipends to Latin Catholic and converted Christian students as well as sanctioning a scholarship scheme for minority students pursuing CA, ICWA, and CS courses on merit cum means basis. 

All these orders were quashed by the High Court on the ground that they discriminate against the rights of other minority communities. 

The SLP submitted that the foundation of these Orders was the recommendations propounded by Justice Sachar Committee. The committee was constituted with the objective of analysing the social, economic, and educational status of Muslims in India and address the issues relating to the socio-economic backwardness of the community. 

The petitioners contended that these Government orders were erroneously quashed by the High Court and that the Court had erred by holding that the impugned Orders were discriminative. 

They submitted that these orders were not benefits granted to any community, rather affirmative actions taken under Articles 15 and 16 to ameliorate the backwardness of the Muslim populace. 

The High Court has failed to appreciate the distinction between the backward community and minority community, the plea reads. 

To support this statement, they have elaborated on how backward communities are mentioned under Articles 15 and 16 and how the State is empowered to make special provisions for their upliftment. Positive discrimination was therefore permitted by the law in this case, they pointed out 

On the other hand, minority communities were mentioned in Articles 29 and 30, and their rights were restricted to cultural and educational domains. 

From this perspective, the petitioner Trust urged that a scene envisaged for a backward community that also happens to be a minority cannot be extended to other minority communities in toto without examining the backwardness of such communities. 

They added that through the High Court's impugned judgment, the benefits intended to uplift the backwardness of the Muslim community have now been extended to other forward communities, claiming that they are minority communities. 

The Court had cited the provisions of the National Minority Commissions Act, 1992 and the Kerala Minorities Act, 2014 to decide that other communities were categorised as minorities. However, the petition alleged that these legislations operate in starkly contrasting regimes from the intent of the impugned Government Orders, the sole purpose of which was to uplift a particular backward community, namely, Muslims. 

The High Court has overlooked this aspect while delivering its judgment, as per the petitioners. It was also alleged that the Court overlooked the fundamental principles of natural justice and the consequent legal implications while passing such an order.   

They added that the impugned schemes did not take away any benefits already enjoyed by the students of other communities and that there is absolutely no adverse impact on other communities because of these impugned Orders.

Accordingly, the petition prayed that the Apex Court may pass orders deemed for in the facts and circumstances of the case, and to grant special leave to appeal before the Court in this regard. 

The special leave petition has been filed through Advocate R.S Jena.

Case Title: Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust v. Justine Pallivathukkal & Ors.