970x125
The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the government to consider members of minority communities other than Muslims and Sikhs for appointment as the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairperson.
970x125
A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that the NCM Act mandates inclusion of members from minority communities in the commission, but does not require the appointment of individuals from any specific community as chairperson.
“Be that as it may, section 3 of the act only provided that the commission shall consist of a chairperson, vice chairperson, and five members. The act does not provide that the commission shall comprise all the members belonging to minority communities.”
The bench said the only provision is that five members, including the chairperson, shall be among the minority communities. “The provision does not provide that the members or the chairperson shall be from a particular minority community,” the bench said.
The court granted the petitioner, Salek Chand Jain, the liberty to submit a representation to the government seeking redressal of his grievance concerning inadequate representation. It added that in case any representation is made, the same shall be considered.
In his petition, Jain said that section 3 of the act stipulates that the chairperson and members of the commission must be drawn from minority communities. He pointed out that of the 16 chairpersons appointed so far, 14 have been Muslims and two Sikhs. Jain said there has been no representation of the members of other minority communities, such as Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Jains.
970x125
