Case to be listed after 8 weeks, BJP cries foul ›

Kashmiri leadership considers itself as the most secular lot in the country but ignores the plight of minorities in the state which are criminally victimised and discriminated against. VIRENDER GUPTA, BJP spokesperson

JAMMU:AFTER the Supreme Court’s verbal observation on Monday that it can’t ask Jammu and Kashmir legislature to legislate on minorities’ commission, the case will be listed after eight weeks.

The apex court had asked the Centre to deliberate on the issue.

Jammu lawyer Ankur Sharma told Hindustan Times that the ball is now in the Centre’s court.

“The case will be listed again after 8 weeks. A joint committee has to submit a report on the contentious issue,” he said.

The Centre will have to take a call on the issue of identification of minorities in Jammu and Kashmir and eight other Hindu minority states, he further said and hoped that the central government will come up with a rational and legally sustainable report.

“With the change of guard in the Supreme Court, there seems to be some inconsistency in the manner in which this case was being heard earlier. However, given the strength and merit in our arguments, I hope the new Chief Justice will be convinced the next time,” he said.

He informed that direction to the state legislature to legislate on some issue was not the only prayer. “There are a host of other issues involved. The case could not be argued at length as the joint committee is yet to submit its report,” he added.

The Supreme Court had on August 8 given three more months to Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government to sit together and take a considered view on formation of a minority commission for the state.

According to the 2011 census, Muslims constitute 68.3% of the state population while Hindus form 28.4%, Sikhs 1.9%, Buddhists 0.9% and Christians 0.3%.

Following Sharma’s PIL, the Jammu and Kashmir government in September last year had submitted before the Supreme Court that the Central Minorities Act, 1992, was not applicable to the state and as such, it did not have to set up a state-level minorities’ commission.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), partner in the ruling alliance in the state, has acerbically reacted to the affidavit filed by the state government wherin it submitted that the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, does not bind the state to constitute state level commission, effectively ruling out its establishment.

Professor Virender Gupta, state spokesman of the party, said, “Kashmiri leadership considers itself as the most secular lot in the country but ignores the plight of minorities in the state which are criminally victimised and discriminated against.” He further added that the state cannot siphon off benefits meant for the religious and linguistic minorities to the majority Muslim population.