Supreme Court Issues Notice On Christian Man's Plea Challenging Appointment Of Only Muslim Persons As Karnataka State Minority Commission Chairperson

The bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose issued notice in the SLP preferred by a person belonging to Karnataka State Christain minority community Anil Antony.

Advocate GS Mani appeared for the Petitioner.

It was argued in the SLP that chairman of Karnataka State Minority Commission only from the Muslim Minority community from the beginning and till date without giving any equal participation and representation to other minority community.

The Karnataka High Court bench of Justices AS Oka (now elevated as Judge of Supreme Court) and Sachin Shankar Magadum on January 18, 2021 had dismissed Antony's petition seeking appointment of Members from Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jain and Buddhists also as the Chairperson of the Corporation on rotation basis within the time frame fixed by Court.

"A writ of mandamus cannot be issued unless a legal obligation on the part of the respondents is shown to do a particular thing. In absence of any legal obligation, the prayer sought for in this writ petition cannot be granted," the High Court had observed.

It may be noted that the Kerala High Court recently had ruled that merely because the Kerala State Commission for Minorities (Amendment) Act, 2017 permits appointing Chairperson and members from the same community, it cannot be said to be conferment of unbridled power infringing rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

Case Title: Anil Antony V. The State Of Karnataka And Ors| SLP(C) 16655/2021

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