SHILLONG, Oct 14: The High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday heard the counsel for the parties in a writ petition seeking the definition of minority with respect to the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004.
The Meghalaya Linguistic Minority Development Forum had filed the petition. The forum’s counsel submitted before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh that the petition can be heard independently of a petition on the issue before the Supreme Court in 2020.
The counsel relied upon paragraph 6 of the affidavit-in-opposition filed on behalf of the Union of India, in which it appeared that the Solicitor General of India was of the view that the matter may be kept pending if there is an apprehension that the directions given in the petition before the high court could have a bearing on the case in the apex court.
The Additional Advocate General, appearing on behalf of the state, drew the high court’s attention to a prayer in the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The prayer read: “…in the alternative, direct the respondents to lay down guidelines for identification of minority at state level, in order to ensure that only those religious & linguistic groups, which are socially, economically, politically non-dominant, and numerically inferior, can establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.”
The court observed that the petitioner’s counsel fairly submitted that, in view of this prayer, the matter may be adjourned for three weeks to enable the petitioner to take appropriate steps in this regard.
