New Delhi: The Supreme Court has rejected the petition of the Central Government to wait for the report of the three-member committee on the issue of including Dalit Christians and Muslims in the Scheduled Caste category and giving reservation. On Wednesday, the court said that the matter was pending for almost two decades, now a decision should come on this issue. In fact, the Central Government had formed a committee under the leadership of former CJI KG Balakrishnan. Its task was to examine whether Scheduled Caste status could be given to those who claimed to belong to the Dalit community but had converted.
Please tell that the Central Government had formed a second committee, ignoring the report of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission. Ranganath Mishra's report recommended reservation for Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists even after religious conversion.
Government should re-examine the report
At the same time, the government alleged that the report of Ranganath Mishra Commission was prepared without any study and consultation. But on the contrary, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Arvind Kumar said in the court that there was no negligence in the report. The bench said that the government is making very general statements and it should re-examine the report. The court said that it will complete the hearing in a time bound manner. The text asked all the parties to file their brief written submissions and arrive at a consensus for a smooth hearing in the matter, wherein both the sides would get two days each to complete the arguments.
How many committees will continue to be formed: Supreme Court
At the same time, on the plea of Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj to wait for the report of the new commission, the bench said that if tomorrow there will be a different political system which will say that the new report is not acceptable, then how many such committees will be formed. On the other hand, senior advocates Raju Ramachandran, CD Singh, Colin Gonsalves and Prashant Bhushan said that the court can take a decision on this issue because Dalit Muslims and Christians are still considered untouchables and they are discriminated against.
Social and religious discrimination are different things
One of the parties opposing the petition said that if Dalit Christians and Muslims are still considered untouchables, they can take legal recourse. Justice Amanullah said that social and religious discrimination are different things. Social stigma can remain even after conversion. We cannot close our eyes when we are considering all these constitutional matters.
Can't get Scheduled Caste status
According to media reports, the Center had told the court that Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam cannot be given Scheduled Caste status as there is no backwardness or oppression in those religious communities. In an affidavit, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 does not suffer from any unconstitutionality and is legal and valid. The Center was responding to a petition by the Center for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO, which was filed in 2004.
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