NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to examine whether a community it could declare itself a religious or linguistic minority on the basis of its population in a state to allow it to run the institutions of its choice.
A bank headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul sought the answer from Center in a PIL submitted by a BJP official Ashwini Upadhyay challenges the validity of Section 2 (f) of the Education Institutions Act of the National Commission for Minorities for empowering the Center to declare a community a minority for this purpose.
The Supreme Court had refused in early February to consider his similar request to define the word “minority” and establish guidelines for granting minority status based on the state population of a particular community. The court had asked him to approach the appropriate forum for help.
In his new petition, Upadhyay has questioned the validity of Section 2 (f) of the Act Relating to the Creation and Management of Minority Institutions.
Senior lawyer Vikas singh, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, told the court that Hindus are a minority in 10 states, while Muslims and Christians, who have been declared a minority community, are a majority in many states.
“Followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism are being deprived of their basic rights to establish and run educational institutions of their choice. On the other hand, Muslims are the majority in Lakshdweep (96.58%) and Kashmir (96%). Christians are the majority in Nagaland (88.10%), Mizoram (87.16%) and Meghalaya (74.59%), ”says the petition.
“Hindus are only 1% in Laddakh, 2.75% in Mizoram, 2.77% in Lakshdweep, 4% in Kashmir, 8.74% in Nagaland, 11.52% in Meghalaya, the 29% in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49% in Punjab41.29% in Manipur but the Center has not declared them a minority. Therefore, Hindus are not protected by articles 29-30 and cannot establish and run the educational institution of their choice, “he said.
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