NEW DELHI, May 10: The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the Centre not taking a clear stand on a plea seeking a direction to it to lay down guidelines for the identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level, and directed it to hold consultations with the states/union territories on the issue within three months.
Hindus are in minority in 10 states, including Meghalaya. The other states/union territories are Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur.
The top court told the Centre that if it wants to hold consultation with the state governments in connection with granting minority status to Hindus, where they are outnumbered by other communities, then it should do so.
The court also refused to entertain a plea filed by a Meghalaya based socio-cultural organisation, seeking intervention in the matter and asked it to approach authorities concerned with a representation.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the Union of India has not decided what it wants to do, and there is uncertainty. “Solution cannot be complex…if you want to consult, then consult (state governments),” Justice Kaul told the counsel representing the Centre.
Senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, representing the petitioner, pointed out that the Centre has filed an affidavit in supersession of its earlier affidavit, saying it wants to hold wider consultation with states and other stakeholders. The Centre’s counsel requested the bench to pass over the matter, as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was busy with some other matter.
Justice Kaul said, “There are matters, which require resolution…taking different stands does not help.” The bench agreed to take up the matter later. “Let the Solicitor General come…”, noted the bench.
In a recent affidavit, the Ministry of Minority Affairs told the Supreme Court that the power to notify minorities is vested with the Centre. But it emphasized on having a wider consultation with the states and other stakeholder in the view of contentions raised in the petition.
The ministry said that wider consultation will ensure that the central government is able to place a considered view before the top court, taking into consideration several sociological and other aspects obviating any unintended complications in future with regard to such a vital issue. It also emphasized that the questions involved in the petitions have far-reaching ramifications throughout the country. “Therefore any stand taken without detailed deliberations with the stakeholders may result in an unintended complication for the country,” it said.
However, in a previous affidavit, the ministry had said: “State governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a minority community within the said state. For instance, the government of Maharashtra has notified Jews as a minority community within the state of Maharashtra.”
The ministry said that certain states, where Hindus or other communities are less in number, can declare them a minority community within its territory. This will enable them to set up and administer their own institutions.
The ministry’s response came on a plea filed by the BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking a direction to the Centre to lay down guidelines for identification of minorities at the state level. He is consistently maintaining that the Hindus are in minority in 10 states/UTs and they are not able to avail the benefits of schemes meant for minorities.
