SC to examine pleas for quota benefits to Dalit converts in Jan
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, while examining the contentious issue of extending the Scheduled Caste tag to Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity, on Wednesday said that it will decide whether to proceed ahead with the matter based on a 2007 report prepared by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranganath Mishra, or stay its hand till a fresh expert panel headed by EX-CJI KG Balakrishnan submits its report on this aspect in another two years.
A bench headed by justice Sanjay
Kishan Kaul posted the matter for January after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said that the Ranganath Mishra Commission report was not acceptable to the government as it was prepared within the “four corners of a room”. Mehta insisted that the Court wait for a new panel, constituted in March, considers the issue threadbare and returns a finding in two years.
The bench, also comprising justices AS Oka and Vikram Nath said, “The first aspect to be dealt with is whether this court should stay its hands till the report of the Committee comes or proceed based on the material available on record.” To examine this question, the court posted the matter in January.
The court was considering a clutch of petitions led by a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation in 2004 demanding SC tag for Dalit Muslims and Christians. Currently, the 15% quota for SCS in jobs and education is restricted to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist communities as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
The petitioners relied on a 2007 report submitted by former CJI Ranganath Mishra saying that so-called Dalit Muslims and
Christians to be included within the fold of Scheduled Castes. The former CJI’S report was prepared as part of the recommendations by the National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which he headed.
Mehta filed an affidavit in October explaining the reservations in accepting the Ranganath Mishra Commission report. The affidavit termed the Justice Ranganath Commission report to be “flawed” as the report based its findings without conducting any field studies. The Centre also alleged that the commission report took a “myopic view” of the social milieu in India and did not contemplate the impact of inclusions in the SC list on the present cases listed as Scheduled Castes.
The Centre then constituted a panel under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 with IAS Ravinder Kumar Jain and University Grants Commission member Sushma Yadav on it, besides EX-CJI KG Balakrishnan as chairperson.
“Now that the Centre has appointed a new Commission, the Court may await its report,” Mehta said on Wednesday. Advocate Prashant Bhushan who appeared for petitioner NGO CPIL opposed the Centre’s request.