Income Of Parent Who Abandoned Family Need Not Be Considered For EWS Reservation: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has recently passed a judgment holding that if any of the parents abandons the family, the income of such parent need not be taken into account for granting EWS (Economically Weaker Section) certificate to the child.

Justice N. Nagaresh was considering a plea preferred by a NIFT - National Institute of Fashion Technology aspirant (1st petitioner), who approached the High Court after being aggrieved by an order rejecting EWS certificate to her.

It observed:

"The income of the father as well as mother has to be considered for grant of EWS Certificate. If either of the parents have abandoned the family, the income of such a person need not be taken into account...Ext.P8 certificate issued by the President of the Grama Panchayat would indicate that the 2nd petitioner has been deserted by her husband and she has not remarried so far. The father has deserted the family more than 12 years ago and he is residing abroad with another family. In such circumstances, Ext.P8 has to be relied on and the 1st petitioner should be granted the benefit of EWS without taking into consideration the income of the father, who has abandoned the petitioners."

The 1st petitioner had secured Rank 54 under the EWS category for the NIFT Entrance but her application for EWS certificate was rejected stating that her mother (2nd petitioner) holds 6.95 cents of land whereas the upper limit to be considered under EWS category is 4.13 cents. However, as per the location plan prepared by the licensed building supervisor of the government, the residential land is only 3.5 cents and the remaining is agricultural land.

The revenue authorities had certified that the annual income of the family was below ₹60,000 and the panchayat president had issued certificate stating that the petitioner's father had abandoned the family. The Court, therefore, felt that there was no reason to deny EWS certificate to the 1st petitioner.

It considered the government order G.O.(MS) No. 23/2024/P&ARD dated 27.11.2024, wherein it was clarified that if a person's residence is located in an agricultural plot, then the aggregate of built-up area, covered area and the set-back alone need to be considered as the residential plot belonging to the family and the rest would be considered as agricultural land. Vide Office Memorandum and Government Orders, the Central and State governments have laid down the criteria for consideration of a person as EWS based on extent of agricultural land owned by family, income of parents, extent of residential land, and area of residential building.

The second reason for rejecting EWS certificate was that the name of the 1st petitioner's step mother was shown in the Secondary School certificate under mother's name. After taking note of the Village Officer's certificate stating that the 2nd petitioner is the mother, the Court opined that anomaly in Secondary School certificate was not sufficient reason to deny EWS certificate.

The Court, thus, directed the Tahsildar (3rd respondent) to issue EWS certificate to the 1st petitioner after setting aside the rejection order passed. The Director General of NIFT was directed to grant admission to her in case of vacancy and upon satisfaction of all other parameters for eligibility.

Case No: WP(C) No. 24429 of 2025

Case Title: Meghna Devi and Anr. v. State of Kerala and Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 563

Counsel for the petitioners: Akhil Raj B., Sravan M.S., U. Umesh Kumar, Arun Raj, Vishnu Vijayan, Ameesha George

Counsel for the respondents: O.M. Shalina - DSGI, Amminikutty - Sr. Government Pleader, S. Nirmal - Standing Counsel - NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology)

Click to Read/Download Judgment