Kerala HC asks why Govt is funding madrasas involved in religious acts

Even after the High Court passes strictures on the State Government for spending huge amounts of public money for madarasas which are imparting only religious education, the Government is not mending its ways. It had reserved 80% scholarships for Muslim students. Fortunately, the High Court quashed that order.

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) – The Kerala High Court asked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led State Government why it was financing a religious activity by pumping vast amounts of public money to run madarasas in the State.

The Kerala High Court on 1st May heard a petition filed by Manoj, secretary of Citizen Organisation for Democracy, Equality, Tranquility, and Secularism, seeking to quash the Kerala Madarasa Teachers’ Welfare Fund Act, 2019. The act passed by the Kerala Government aims to disburse pension and other benefits to madarasa teachers.

‘Madrasas in Kerala involved in only religious activities, what is the purpose of funding them’’ Kerala HC asks Pinarayi Vijayan govthttps://t.co/gh8IWkQpef

— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) June 2, 2021

Adv. C Rajendran, counsel for the petitioner, said that these madarasas only impart knowledge about Quran and other textbooks on Islam. However, under the Act, they are getting huge amounts of money, which is unconstitutional and against the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution.

A Division Bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath observed that the madarasas in Kerala are different from those being run in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal which have been imparting secular as well as religious education. However, in Kerala, the madarasas only imparted religious education. “In Kerala, these are involved purely in religious activity. What is the purpose of contributing funds by the State for a religious activity ?”, the Kerala HC asked the State Government regarding funding madarasas in the State.