THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will approach the Supreme Court against the high court verdict on the minority scholarship quota, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the assembly on Thursday.
Vijayan said the government was moving the court on the basis of legal advice from senior SC lawyer K Parasaran. He said the controversy regarding the matter was unwarranted, and no one should try to create a communal divide or hatred on the matter.
The new policy had to be formulated after the high court quashed the earlier 80:20 ratio, he said. Those receiving the scholarships will continue to receive them while the new scholarships will be given on the basis of the share of population of each community.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan, meanwhile, said the government should retain the scholarships for Muslim community on the basis of the Sachar Committee recommendations. The number of scholarships for the Muslim community should not be reduced, he said and added that he had only partially welcomed the government decision.
‘Govt created unwarranted controversy’
IUML parliamentary party leader P K Kunhalikutty said it was the government that created an unwarranted controversy on the matter. Kerala is the only state that stopped implementing the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and the mistake should be rectified, he demanded.
The government had decided to revise the ratio for minority scholarships and offer them to all minority communities on the basis of their population in the 2011 census, in adherence to the high court order.
The population of Christian and Muslim communities is 18.38% and 26.56% respectively, while Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are 0.01% each. The government had also decided to earmark Rs 6.2 crore in addition to the budgetary allocation as minority scholarships will require Rs 23.51 crore this year.
The high court had quashed a 2015 government order allotting scholarships in 80:20 ratio to Muslims and Latin Catholics and converted Christians, following which the government convened an allparty meeting to take different views on the topic.
