The Assembly on Thursday decided to send the Kerala State Commission for Minorities (Amendment) Bill, 2017, to the subject committee (9) on Local Self-Government, Rural Development, and Housing for further scrutiny and discussions.
The said Bill sought to amend Section 3 of the Kerala State Commission for Minorities Act, 2014, which provided for the constitution of Kerala State Commission for Minorities.
Clause (b) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Act provided that the commission shall consist of a member belonging to another minority community in the State and having special knowledge in matters relating to minority, nominated by the government.
The government sought to amend the section by substituting the letter “ a” for the word “another” for the smooth functioning of the commission.
Several members of the Opposition, including Eldhose Kunnappally, T.V. Ibrahim, and Anoop Jacob, opposed the amendment alleging that the government had no clarity on what it sought to achieve by bringing in the amendment to the parent Act.
They alleged that the government had some definite malicious intent in seeking to replace “another” with “a” and that it went against the spirit of Article 14 of the Constitution which guaranteed equality before the law.
In his reply, Minister for Local Self-Government K.T. Jaleel said the amendment did not seek to exclude anyone. The government had no political motives in bringing in the amendment. In fact, it had done its best to uphold the spirit and reputation of the minority commission and had appointed apt and qualified persons to the commission.
