KERALA: Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, asked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government as to why funding Madrasas which are running religious activity in the state. As per the reports, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday heard a petition filed by Manoj, secretary of Citizen Organisation for Democracy, Equality, Tranquility, and Secularism, seeking to quash the Kerala Madrasa Teachers’ Welfare Fund Act, 2019.
While, hearing the matter C Rajendran, counsel for the petitioner, said that these madrasas in Kerala only impart knowledge about the Quran and other textbooks pertaining to Islam. However, under the act, the madrasas in Kerala are getting huge amounts of money for the said purposes, which is unconstitutional and against the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution, the petitioner argued.
“A division bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath observed that the madrasas in Kerala are different from those being run in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal which have been imparting secular as well as religious education”.
The petitioner said the government is contributing public money to the scheme. The welfare fund pays a fixed amount and pension to a madrasa teacher who has completed 60 years and has remitted contribution for not less than five years.
The Kerala Court had directed the government to disburse the merit-cum-means scholarships equally among notified minority communities as per the latest population census. This has raked up controversies for the newly re-elected CPI(M)-led LDF government as the Muslim organizations demand that the entire quota be reserved for them.
Earlier this week, in a significant judgement, the Kerala High Court had quashed three government orders pertaining to minority scholarships that fixed the ratio of scholarship distribution at 80:20 between Muslims and Christians.