Plea Seeking SC Status For Converted Dalits : Supreme Court To Await Outcome Of Challenge To New Panel Formed By Centre
The study conducted by the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, which, in its 2007 report, endorsed the extension of reservation benefits to Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity, failed to focus on certain ‘intrinsic issues’, the centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday. A three-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S. Oka, and B.V. Nagarathna, was...
The study conducted by the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, which, in its 2007 report, endorsed the extension of reservation benefits to Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity, failed to focus on certain ‘intrinsic issues’, the centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday. A three-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S. Oka, and B.V. Nagarathna, was hearing a batch of petitions seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit converts. Speaking about the appointment of a new commission headed by former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, the Solicitor-General for India, Tushar Mehta, said, “The commission has been constituted specifically to delve into the question of whether a Dalit even after conversion, continues to have Scheduled Caste status.”
In India, no person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism is considered to be a member of any Scheduled Caste, as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order. However, there has been a growing demand among Muslim and Christian groups for a similar status to be conferred on Dalit converts, on the grounds of the fundamental rights to equality, religious freedom, and non-discrimination. The proponents for the extension of reservation benefits argue that the change in religion is not accompanied by a change in social standing, and the lives of the converts continue to be spent on the peripheries of society on account of systemic exclusion and caste-based hierarchies. Recognising this, the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, formed in 2004 to examine a wide range of issues apropos of minority rights and representations and headed by a former Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranganath Mishra, recommended that Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity be permitted to avail of reservation benefits under the Scheduled Caste reservation quota. The suggestion to divorce Scheduled Caste status from religion and however, faced severe political opposition.
In November, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment filed an affidavit asserting that the 1950 Order was based on historical data which clearly demonstrated that neither such caste-based backwardness and oppression nor untouchability was prevalent among Christian or Muslim groups. “In fact, one of the reasons for which people from Scheduled Castes have been converting to religions like Islam or Christianity is so that they can come out of the oppressive system of untouchability which is not prevalent at all in Christianity or Islam,” the affidavit stated. Refusing to accept the Misra commission’s recommendation, the centre said that the advisory body had taken a ‘myopic’ view of the social environment and did not consider the effect of the inclusion of Dalit converts on the current beneficiaries of Scheduled Caste reservation. The study conducted by the commission was flawed since it was not based on field studies and could not be corroborated with the ground reality, the centre alleged. The centre’s stand was reiterated again by the Solicitor-General in December, who highlighted that another commission specifically dealing with this issue had been constituted.
However, on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Advocate Prashant Bhushan opposed the central government’s request to defer the matter till the newly appointed commission furnished its findings. Pointing out that it has been pending for almost 19 years, Bhushan said, “The government now has set up a new commission to study the same thing that was already studied and on which a detailed report has already been given. There is no need to await its report.”
In December, a plea was also filed in the top court challenging the constitution of the Justice K.G. Balakrishnan Commission to examine the merits of extending reservation benefits to Dalit converts. Noting this development, Justice Kaul said, “This is coming up on Monday, I have been told. Let us post this matter after two months because we will have to see what the outcome of the challenge is.”
This batch of petitions will next be heard on March 22.
Case Title
Ghazi Saaduddin v. State of Maharashtra | C.A. No. 329-330/2004
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