Nominate Members To Vacant Posts At National Commission For Minorities By September End: Delhi High Court To Centre

The Delhi High Court has extended the time given to the Central Government for nominating members to vacant posts at the National Commission for Minorities by September 30.

The Court was hearing a petition seeking directions for the expeditious filling up of vacancies at the National Commission For Minorities.

A single judge bench comprising of Justice Rekha Palli ordered thus:

"Keeping in view the aforesaid stand taken by the parties, the application is allowed by extending the time for compliance of the directions given in the order dated 23.04.2021, to 30.09.2021."

Earlier, the Court had directed the Central Government to nominate members against all the vacant positions at the National Commission for Minorities by July 31.

The Court had noted that out of seven positions, six positions were vacant, including the post of Chairperson and that there is only Vice Chairman from the Muslim community who is functioning in effect, at the Commission.

During the course of hearing on Thursday, an application was filed by Centre seeking extension of three months' time to comply with the previous order after submitting that the vacancies could not be filled in view of the lockdown imposed on account of the sudden surge in COVID-19 during April and May, 2021. 

The Petitioner had sought directions for filling up vacant posts of Chairperson and members from the Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Sikh, and Jain communities in the National Commission for Minorities.

The counsel appearing for the Petitioner did not oppose the grant of a reasonable extension to the Centre.

Title - Abhay Ratan Bauddh v. Union Of India & Anr.

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