CHENNAI: A social activist has approached the Madras high court to direct the authorities to permit parents to fill columns such as religion and caste as “no religion” and “no caste” while seeking admission to educational institutions.
The PIL filed by G. Balakrishnan also sought a direction to authorities to issue appropriate instructions to all educational institutions in the state not to mention the religion/ caste of the student in the transfer certificates issued by the institutions concerned.
A Division Bench comprising Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M.V. Muralidaran before whom a PIL came up for hearing, posted the matter for June 15 after Special government pleader V. Jayaprakash Narayan sought time to get instructions with regard to the implementation of a G.O of July 31, 2000. According to petitioner, the effect of caste on the ethics of people was deplorable. There was no sympathy to the deserving and appreciation of the meritorious.
There was no charity to the needy but the charity begins with caste and ends with caste. Tamil Nadu being a pioneer to address the issues of social justice, way back in 1973 took a giant step forward by issuing a government order whereby the Director of School Education was instructed to confer right upon those who do not wish to declare their religion or caste in school certificates or transfer certificates to do so.
However, this progressive measure was not publicised duly due to which the very existence of such an invaluable right did not get the attention it deserved, he said. He said the basis for issuing the GO was only to encourage persons who marry inter-religion/inter-caste to transform society into a casteless one. In the wake of a new generation of progressive-minded people, the issue again caught the attention of the authorities and in such a situation, a G.O dated July 31, 2000 was issued referring the 1973 GO and reiterating the said position. Even this GO was not known to many.
