A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has upheld a single judge’s ruling that Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students pursuing courses in unaided colleges/institutions controlled by universities and the government were entitled to educational grant of the government or university. The ruling was upheld by the Bench while dismissing an appeal filed by the State government and SC/ST Development Department against the verdict of the single judge.
The single judge issued the verdict while quashing a part of a government order which stipulated that education grant could not be allotted to SC/ST students pursuing unaided courses in unaided colleges. The judgment came on a writ petition filed by Saranyamol of Kothamangalam challenging the government order. The single judge had declared that the government and SC/ST Development Department were legally bound to disburse the educational grant to SC/ST students studying in recognised affiliated private unaided colleges in the State on a par with the SC/ST students of recognised affiliated private aided colleges. The Bench observed that no ground had been made out to interfere with the single judge’s verdict.
