New Delhi, Feb 9, (LAB)A single-judge Bench of the High Court of Karnataka directed the registry to place the petitions challenging the ban on wearing hijab by Muslim girl students in colleges before the chief justice for constituting a larger Bench.
Justice Krishna S. Dixit said, “Considering the enormity of the importance of questions of law debated, this court is of the opinion that the petition papers be put before the Chief Justice to consider if a larger Bench can be constituted in the subject matter.”
The court while hearing the arguments of the advocates representing the Muslim girl students from Udupi district seeking to permit them to attend classes wearing a hijab as an interim measure till a larger Bench is set up, said, an interim order can be made before the larger Bench constituted by the Chief Justice. The judge said that cases related to the issues of personal laws are decided by a larger bench.
Five girls from the Muslim community had approached the Karnataka High court on February 8, questioning the validity of the Government Order issued on February 5 empowering school and pre-university college authorities to prescribe uniforms in the respective educational institution and imposing a ban on wearing hijab./ LAB/SNG