State to examine central govt’s minority status affidavit in SC

SHILLONG, March 31: Just days after the central government told the Supreme Court that states can declare a religious or linguistic community as a ‘minority community’ within the said state, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the state government will examine the matter in details.
Reacting to a query, Sangma on Thursday said, “We have not studied the entire thing. Once the entire ruling comes, we will examine and study it.”
He said neither the government nor the cabinet has discussed the matter.
The Centre had recently submitted in the Supreme Court that governments in ten states, where followers of Hinduism, Baha’ism and Judaism are a ‘minority’, can consider laying down guidelines to identify them as minority communities and allow them to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
The Centre was responding to a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay that the followers of Judaism, Baha’ism and Hinduism — who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur — cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.