KOZHIKODE: The all-party meeting convened by the chief minister on Friday to discuss the developments after the High Court struck down 80:20 ratio in allocating educational scholarships for the minorities decided to constitute an expert committee to study the situation and suggest further action.
Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said all legal angles will be examined to decide how to go further on the issue. The meeting decided that a final decision will be arrived at only after considering the opinions of the expert committee and the practical suggestions from different quarters.
The chief minister himself will hold discussions with legal experts. He told the meeting that the government’s attempt is to arrive at a consensus on the issue. He added that Friday’s meeting was only a preliminary effort and more such discussions will be held in the future.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan urged the LDF government that the minority scholarship issue should be addressed without affecting communal harmony. Talking to reporters here after the all-party meet, Satheesan said when the state government comes up with the new proposals, the existing beneficiaries should not be affected. He also said community balancing should not be affected under no circumstances.
A Vijayaraghavan (CPM), Sooranad Rajasekharan (Congress), Kanam Rajendran (CPI), P K Kunhalikutty (IUML), Stephen George (Kerala Congress (M)), Mathew T Thomas (Janata Dal (S)), P C Chacko (NCP), Kasim Irikkur (INL), George Kurien (BJP), Anup Jacob (Kerala Congress (Jacob)), A A Azeez (RSP) and representatives of other political parties attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the IUML met the chief minister in the morning to submit a memorandum on the issue. The memorandum asked the government to constitute a Sachar committee scheme implementation cell or a committee in any other similar name to give 100 per cent of the benefits to Muslims.
League leaders also asked the government to be transparent while sanctioning various scholarships meant for all minorities to avoid suspicion among various communities. P K Kunhalikutty, M K Muneer and K P A Majeed were in the delegation.