PIL in SC seeks identification of ‘minorities’ at state level

Satya Prakash

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 4

A PIL in the Supreme Court has challenged the Centre’s notification declaring Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains as minorities at the national level, saying it went against its 2002 ruling in the TMA Pai case that the unit for determining linguistic and religious minorities would be state.

Petitioner Devkinandan Thakur has questioned the validity of Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 that empowered the Central Government to notify minorities, terming it arbitrary, irrational and contrary to Articles 14, 15, 21, 29 and 30 of the Constitution.

Thakur has sought directions to the Centre to define ‘minority’ and lay down ‘guidelines for identification of minorities at district level’, to ensure that only those religious and linguistic groups—which were socially economically politically non-dominant and numerically very inferior—got the benefits and protections guaranteed under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.

This is the second PIL on the contentious issue. Earlier, Delhi BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay had challenged certain provisions of the NCM Act and the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, 2004.

Upadhyay has sought minority status for Hindus in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshadweep on the ground that Hindus were numerically lower strength in these states/UTs. Contending Hindus were in minority in several states and were unable to avail the benefits of schemes meant for minorities, he also sought guidelines for identification of minorities at the state level.

Taking exception to the Centre changing its stand on declaring Hindus as minority in nine states and union territories where they were numerically lesser in number, the Supreme Court had on May 10 noted that taking different stands won’t help.

A Bench led by Justice SK Kaul had made these comments after it noticed that the Centre, in departure from its earlier stand, said the power to notify minorities was vested in it and any decision in this regard will be taken after discussion with states and other stakeholders. Earlier, the Ministry of Minority Affairs had said state governments can declare any religious or linguistic community, including Hindus, a minority within the said state.

Asking the Centre to undertake the necessary exercise of consultation and file a report in three months, the Bench had listed the matter for hearing on August 30.

Thakur contended that despite being numerically lesser in number in certain states/UTs, Hindus were denied the rights of minorities. Hindus were 1 per cent in Ladakh, 2.75 per cent in Mizoram, 2.77 per cent in Lakshadweep, 4 per cent in Kashmir, 8.74 per cent in Nagaland, 11.52 per cent in Meghalaya, 29 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49 per cent in Punjab, 41.29 per cent in Manipur; but the Centre has not declared them a ‘minority’, he submitted.

The Centre has declared Muslims as minority, who are 96.58 per cent in Lakshadweep, 95 per cent in Kashmir, 46 per cent in Ladakh. Similarly, Centre has declared Christians as minority, who are 88.10 per cent in Nagaland, 87.16 per cent in Mizoram and 74.59 per cent in Meghalaya, empowering them to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice as per Article 30.

Similarly, Sikhs were 57.69 per cent in Punjab and Buddhists were 50per cent in Ladakh and they could establish and administer educational institutions of their choice but not the Bahais and Jews, who were merely 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively at national level, the petitioner contended.