K BALAKRISHNAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application for the issue of a writ or other direction prohibiting the 2nd respondent, the State of Kerala, from taking any steps for the formation of the proposed Malappuram District; and for a writ of mandamus directing the 1st respondent, the Union of India, to issue appropriate direction under Art.355 of the Constitution to the State Government prohibiting it from forming the proposed district. The petitioners pray for a declaration that the division of the territories specified in S.5(1)(b) of the States Reorganisation Act into the present three Districts and changing the name of the Malabar District are invalid, and also for a further declaration that carving out the proposed district from out of the territories comprised in the Malabar District namely the territories specified in S.5(1)(b) of the States Reorganisation Act is illegal.

(2.) The petitioners contend that the formation of the District of Malappuram would violate their fundamental right under Art.14 of the Constitution, that the formation of a District with a Muslim majority would perpetuate the hegemony of the Muslims to the detriment of the Hindu minority in the area, that it will ultimately lead to the formation of Moplastan, that it will lead to communal disharmony and breach of public order, that history will repeat itself in that there will be a recrudescence of orgies of vandalism, that the formation of the district will be contrary to the provisions of S.5(2) of the States Reorganisation Act and that at any rate the formation of the district without the authority of law by an executive fiat would be unconstitutional.

(3.) It is hard to understand the petitioners' contention that the formation of a new district with a Muslim majority will violate the fundamental right of the petitioners under Art.14 of the Constitution.