SHILLONG: A public interest litigation (PIL) filed before the High Court of Meghalaya here has sought declaration of minorities on “state-wise” basis, praying that Hindus and other indigenous religious communities in Meghalaya, such as Niam Khasi, Niam Tynrai and Songsarek, be declared as religious minorities.
The petition, filed by Delina Khongdup, an advocate and a social-political activist, states that the cause of action happened on October 23, 1993, when the central government had notified “minority” in terms of Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minority (NCM) Act, 1992, without declaring Hindus and other indigenous religious communities such as Niam Khasi, Niam Tynrai, Songsarek, etc. in the state as minority.
The petition argued that despite Christians being a majority, with a population of 74.59 per cent (according to the 2011 census) in the state, they are getting the benefit of the minority religion.
On the other hand, the petition contends “that people belonging to actual minority religion like Hindu (11.53 per cent) and indigenous religions like Niam Khasi, Niam Tynrai, Songsarek, etc in the state (8.71 per cent) have been deprived of the benefit of any minority schemes.”
The petition requested the interference of the High Court for “ensuring justice to the needy and poor who are among the minority in the state.”
The petitioner alleged that Section 2(c) of the NCM Act is arbitrary and contrary to Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
The central notification, the petitioner alleged, facilitates the violation of fundamental rights such as right to health, right to education, right to shelter and right to livelihood, etc.
The petitioner has sought the definition of the term ‘minority’ and framing of guidelines for their identification at state level, in the spirit of the provision of Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India and the judgment of the apex court in the TMA Pai case [(2002) 8 SCC 481], in order to ensure that only those religious and linguistic groups — which are socially, economically and politically non-dominant and numerically very inferior — enjoy rights and protection, guaranteed under Articles 29-30 of the Constitution.
The petitioner further sought declaration of the Centre’s notification dated October 23, 1993, as invalid and ultra vires.