14 states’ views on identification of minorities furnished: Govt tells SC
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has held consultative meetings with all state governments, Union territories and other stake holders on the issue of identification of minorities at the state level and 14 states have furnished their views so far.
It said comments of remaining 19 states and Union territories have not been received and since the matter is “sensitive in nature” and will have “far-reaching ramifications”, some more time should be given to enable them to finalise their views.
A bench of justices S K Kaul and A S Oka granted six-week time to the Centre to place on record the stand in the matter.
The top court perused the status report filed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs which said some of the states and Union territories have requested for additional time to have wider consultations with all the stake holders before they form their considered opinion on the issue.
The status report said that 14 states and three Union territories have furnished their comments.
The apex court was hearing the pleas, including the one filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, which sought directions for framing guidelines for identification of minorities at the state level, contending that Hindus are in minority in 10 states.
During the hearing, Upadhyay told the bench that he has challenged the validity of section 2(f) of the National Commission for Minority Education Institution Act, 2004. Terming section 2(f) of the Act, which empowers the Centre to identify and notify minority communities in India, as “manifestly arbitrary, irrational, and offending”, his plea has alleged that it gives unbridled power to the Centre.
Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said a status report has been filed by the ministry on October 31.
The status report said 14 states -- Punjab, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu -- and three Union Territories namely Ladakh, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and Chandigarh have furnished their comments.