Reservation on economic basis gets Kerala HC nod

[katharnak]

Arguments in favour of reservations based on economic criteria got a boost on Wednesday with the Kerala High Court upholding

the state governments decision to provide a quota for poor students among the forward communities in graduate and undergraduate courses.

The state cabinet had, in September 2008, decided to allot 10% seats in government-run colleges and 7.5% seats in universities to poor students from forward class families living below the poverty line. This was contested before the HC by Muslim Jamaat , which claimed it was against the constitutional scheme of reservation.

Dismissing the petition filed by Muslim Jamaat , an umbrella organization representing the community, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice SR Bannurmath and Justice AK Basheer, observed that it was time to gradually move away from the system of religion and caste based reservations to merit based competition.

Meritorious poor students among the forward castes should also get a fair chance and should not suffer because of their economic condition, the court said, adding that poverty and economic backwardness were the worst social evils. The verdict also touched upon the social upheavals that took place in the wake of land reforms in Kerala in the 1950s.

Stating that meritorious poor students among the forward castes should also get a fair chance, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice SR Bannurmath and Justice AK Basheer, said though blots still remained, the condition of backward communities had improved in the decades since reservation was instituted. It was time to usher in open competition, it said and added that backward communities must realize that the governments’ overindulgence in extending benefits to them would only stunt their growth.

The condition of the Muslim community too had improved in the last many years, the bench said. Excellence in education and professional fields, the court felt, could be achieved only if there was competitiveness.

Muslim organizations said they were not happy with the court’s comments and would challenge the judgment.


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