Relevance: GS-2: Mechanism, laws, institutions, and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections of society, minority status, etc

Key Phrases: Minority status, religious minority, linguistic minority, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act 1992, Article 29, Article 30, Article 350 A, TMA Pai case, BAL PATIL case.

Why in News?

• In May this year, a Supreme Court bench censured the Central government for taking a U-turn on a politically sensitive plea for identification of religious minorities at the state level as laid down in the landmark 2002 ‘TMA Pai case’ judgment.
• But recently, the Supreme Court orally observed that it is "contrary to law" to identify religious and linguistic minority communities district-wise and remarked that minority status of linguistic and religious communities has to be considered State wise.

What was the petition about?

• The petition claims that Hindus do not get minority status in States where they are “socially-, economically-, politically non-dominant and numerically inferior”.
• The plea contends that their right under Articles 29-30 is being siphoned off illegally to the majority community in the state because the Centre has not notified them as `minority` under the National Commission for Minorities Act.
• The plea challenges Section 2(C) of the Act, which declared Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs, and Jains as minorities at the national level and sought direction for district-wise identification of minorities and state-wise status.
• Relying on statistics of Hindus, the petitioner highlights that the numbers are: 1% in Ladakh, 2.75% in Mizoram, 2.77% in Lakshadweep, 4% in Kashmir, 8.74% in Nagaland, 11.52% in Meghalaya, 29% in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49% in Punjab, 41.29% in Manipur. But the Centre has not declared them as a ‘minority’.
• On the other hand, the Centre has declared Muslims as a minority, who are 96.58% in Lakshadweep, 95% in Kashmir, and 46% in Ladakh.
• Similarly, the Centre has declared Christians as a minority, who are 88.10% in Nagaland, 87.16% in Mizoram & 74.59% in Meghalaya.
• Likewise, Sikhs were a majority in Punjab and there was a large population in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana. Similarly, Buddhists were a majority in Ladakh.

What is the Centre's Stand?

• Earlier, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, in an affidavit, told the court that both the Centre and States had “concurrent power” to notify minorities. It had even said that States could also recognize a community as a minority at the individual State level.
• However, a new affidavit filed afterward “in supersession of the earlier affidavit” said that “the power is vested with the Centre to notify minorities”.
• The three-page affidavit said Section 2(f) and Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions Act, 2004, and the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, respectively, passed by the Parliament, empowered the Centre to notify a minority community.
• The Ministry of Minority Affairs said that matter has “far-reaching ramifications”, and added that it needed more time for discussions with “state governments and other stakeholders”.

Concept of Minority:

• The term 'minority' as a concept has not been adequately defined in the Indian Constitution.
• Although mentioning the cultural attributes of religion and language, the Constitution does not provide details on the geographical and numerical specification of the concept.
• Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, states that a 'minority' is a community notified as such by the Central Government.
• While the Act does not exactly define the term 'minority', it says that the Centre would notify and designate those who are minorities.
• As of now, six communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis), and Jains - come under the minority section in India.

T.M.A Pai Foundation v State of Karnataka 2002:

• In 2003, an 11 Judge Bench of the Supreme Court decided the scope of the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice under Article 30(1) read with Article 29(2) of the Constitution.
• The majority opinion delivered by 6 Judges held that only the State can determine the status of a religious or linguistic minority and religious and linguistic minorities, who have been put on a par in Article 30, have to be considered State-wise.
• Even for a Central law, to determine the minority, the unit will be the particular State and not the entire nation.
• The question of whether followers of a sect of religion can claim minority status even though that religion is in majority in that particular State, was left unanswered.

Bal Patil case:

• In 2005, the SC in its judgment in Bal Patil & Anr vs Union of India & Ors referred to the TMA Pai ruling and said:
  • “After the verdict in the eleven judges’ Bench in TMA Pai Foundation case, the legal position stands clarified that henceforth the unit for determining the status of both linguistic and religious minorities would be ‘state’.
  • If, therefore, the State has to be regarded as the unit for determining “linguistic minority” vis-a-vis Article 30, then with “religious minority” being on the same footing, it is the State about which the majority or minority status will have to be determined.

Conclusion:

• In different States different communities are minorities. A community that is a majority in large parts of the country can be a minority in certain States. The interests of these communities must be protected.
• The government should clarify whether the Parliament or the State legislatures has the power to notify a minority community and protect its interests by the constitutional guarantees.
• The possible solution could rather determine the minority status concerning the source and territorial application of legislation as pointed out in the TMA Pai case by the Honourable Supreme Court of India.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. What are the constitutional provisions to safeguard the rights of minorities in India? Discuss.