The efforts of Save Lakshadweep Forum, an all-party initiative launched by the residents of the Union Territory to stop the anti-people policies pursued by the Administrator of Lakshadweep Praful Patel came to a naught on Friday as the Kerala High Court nixed the last of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the forum challenging various reforms launched by the administration.
A Division Bench consisting of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Judge Shaji P Chaly on Friday dismissed the PIL petition filed by a Lakshadweep based lawyer challenging the Administration’s decision to shut down the dairy farms in the islands and to remove meat from the menu of the daily noon-meal served in the schools in Lakshadweep Islands.The judges said that they concurred with the argument by the standing counsel of Lakshadweep Islands that the court should not interfere in policy decisions taken by the administration.
The decision to shut down the dairy farms in the islands was because of the more than Re one crore loss incurred by the administration every year in its efforts to maintain the same. The administration also told the Court that the move to take meat off from the mid-day meal served in school was to ensure that the nutritional value stipulated in the rules. The court also agreed with the contention that any menu that met the nutritional value could be served by the government.
Interestingly, the Kerala High Court in June 2021 had stayed the operations of these decisions and had sought explanation from the administration. The islands witnessed massive protests and demonstrations demanding that Patel be called back from Lakshadweep. The Save Lakshadweep Forum leaders had said that thousands of BJP workers in the archipelago had quit the party to join secular parties against the move by the administration to saffronize the islands.
The SLF had contended that the decision of the administration to change the mid-day meals menu and shut down dairy farms in the islands infringed upon the ethnic culture, heritage, food habits and rights of the residents under Articles 19 and 300A of the Constitution of India.