Can Kerala State Minorities Commission entertain a petition seeking payment of brokerage and that too in proportion to the dowry given in a marriage?
Though it’s a common knowledge that the Commission cannot consider such petitions, it didn’t deter a petitioner from approaching the panel with such a plea. The panel members were confronted by a petitioner as they met in Kochi on Friday.
Even though the panel had issued a notice to the other parties in the case, they didn’t turn up for hearing. As the petitioner opened his bag of worries before the panel, one of the panel members offered to close the case with a note to the opposite party to consider the plea favourably.
As the unsatisfied petitioner refused to relent, the woman member of the panel convinced him about the risk involved in his prayer. “It is illegal to give dowry. It’s equally wrong to accept it too. And you are demanding brokerage proportional to the dowry paid. As a panel established by law, we cannot act beyond law and consider your request,” explained the panel member in a hushed tone to the insistent petitioner.
She rested her case stating that the opposite party didn’t turn up for the hearing as they knew that the demand for brokerage in tune with the dowry paid was an untenable one under law.
K.S. Sudhi
