New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India Monday asked National Commission for Minorities to consider a plea seeking direction for the government to define the term "minorities" and lay down guidelines for their identification.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna declined to entertain the plea saying it would be appropriate for the petitioner, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, to make a representation before the Commission.
The bench said that the petitioner can approach the Supreme Court again if he is not satisfied with the Commission's decision, according to ANI.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) stated that at present, Hindus who are merely 2-8 per cent in North East states, are treated as majority and Christians, who are 80-90 per cent gets the benefits of minorities.
It sought to lay down guidelines for identification of minorities to ensure that only those religious and linguistic groups, which are socially, economically and politically non-dominant and numerically inferior may enjoy rights and protections guaranteed under Articles 29-30 (Right of Freedom of religion).
The petition further prayed that those religious and linguistic groups of Indian citizens, which are socially, economically and politically non-dominant and numerically not more than 1 per cent of total population of that respective state may enjoy rights and protections guaranteed under Articles 29-30 of the Constitution.
The National Commission for Minority Act, 1993 notified six communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains as 'minorities', without defining the term minority and framing parameters for their identification, the petition said.
"Muslims are actually a majority in Lakshadweep (96.20 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir (68.30per cent) and have a significant population in Assam (34.20 per cent), West Bengal (27.5 per cent), Kerala (26.60 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (19.30 per cent) and Bihar (18 per cent). However, they are enjoying the "minority status", and the communities, which are real minorities, are not getting their legitimate share because of non-identification of minorities at state level, thereby jeopardising their fundamental rights. This clearly reflects arbitrariness and illegality in Section 2(c) of NCM Act", the petition added.
It further contended that Hindus are a minority in eight states - Lakshadweep (2.5 per cent), Mizoram (2.75 per cent), Nagaland (8.75 per cent), Meghalaya (11 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (28 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (29 per cent), Manipur (31 per cent) and Punjab (38.40 per cent), but their "minority rights are being siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily" to majority population because the Central government has not notified them a "minority" under Section 2 (c) of the NCM Act.
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