India News | Kerala Govt to Convene All-party Meet on Minority Scholarship Issue

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 2 (PTI): The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to convene an all-party meeting to discuss about the recent High Court verdicton minority scholarships.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would chair the meeting, via video conference,scheduledon Friday, official sources here said.

The Kerala High Court had, on May 29, quashed the State government orders sub-classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80 per cent to Muslim community and 20 per cent to Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians, saying it cannot be legally sustained. The court had also directed the government to pass requisite and appropriate orders providing merit-cum-means scholarship to members of the notified minority communities within the State equally and in accordance with the latest population census available with the State Minority Commission. Soon after the verdict, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key partner in Congress-headed UDF, had accused the LDF government of misinforming the High Court resulting in its order nullifying the prevailing 80:20 proportion in the minority welfare schemes. However, theKerala Congress headed by P J Joseph, another ally in the UDF, welcomed the judgement and urged the government to implement it. The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC), a body of the Catholic Bishops in Kerala, also welcomed the High Court order.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)