By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Sept 1, 2022: The Supreme Court has directed the federal to take a stand within three weeks on the issue of extending scheduled caste tag to Dalit Christians and Muslims and said that the day has come to take a call on issues having social ramifications.
Under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, only Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs are recognized as scheduled castes.
The All India Catholic Union (AICU) challenged the Presidential Order of 1950 denying constitutional benefits to Christians of Scheduled Caste origin. Its lawyer P I Jose says on August 30 took up the matter was taken up for hearing in Court 3 as Item number 103 by a Bench presided over by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka and Vikram Nath along with similar cases filed by others.
The Solicitor General appearing for the federal government “could not give any valid reason for further delaying the matter and was directed to file an affidavit within three weeks,” Jose says.
The court further directed all parties to submit their written submissions in three days before the next date of hearing on October 11.
The Writ filed by AICU explains the relation and need for giving equal treatment to Christians and other minorities of Scheduled Caste origin in order to make India a progressive peaceful nation, says the union’s national president Lancy D’Cunha.
The AICU’s public interest litigation flagged the issue for consideration by the court in 2004 but the federal government did not file any response in the past 18 years.
“All these old matters are pending in this court because of its social ramifications. A day has come when we have to take a call on this,” the bench said.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said, “This matter is engaging the attention of the central government and we request for some time to bring the decision on record.”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan who appeared for Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) told the court that the issue involves a short question whether the 1950 Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order discriminates against Dalit Muslims and Christians. Christian and Muslim organizations too had approached the Supreme Court and their petitions were bunched together with CPIL petition.
The petition sought a direction from the top court to declare paragraph (3) of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 as unconstitutional as it stated, “…no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism shall be deemed to be a member of a scheduled caste.” The petitioners sought delinking of religion from consideration of scheduled caste status.
In 2007, former Supreme Court judge, justice Ranganath Misra headed the panel on the issue of granting SC status to religious communities besides Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists and recommended that the 1950 Order was discriminatory.
Tushar Mehta said the government does not accept the recommendation. “We do not accept the Ranganath Misra Commission report as it ignored many aspects,” SG Mehta said. But the court asked him why no affidavit was filed rejecting the Misra commission findings.
The 2011 census shows that India has 24 million Christians and 138 million Muslims. However, there is no data on Dalit converts in these religions. In 2008, a study by the National Commission for Minorities recommended SC status for Dalit Christians and Muslims. This report too was not accepted.
Prashant Bhushan said that the government apprehends that since Dalit Christians have wider access to education and other benefits, they will stand a better chance to corner the reservation benefits meant for scheduled castes. The court allowed Bhushan to file his response to Centre’s affidavit before the next date of hearing.