SC status for Dalit Christians: Centre seeks more time

The Government had sought the NCSC’s opinion after the report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM), headed by former Chief Justice of India Rangnath Misra, recommended legislative and legal remedies to undo the impact of the Presidential Order of 1950. Like the Mishra Commission, the NCSC had also pitched in for quota for Dalit Christians and Muslims, asking the Government to give them privileges and the protection like Scheduled Castes belonging to Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh communities.

Acceding to the plea of Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, the Bench granted the Centre eight weeks to furnish its response. Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, counsel for Centre for Public Interest Litigation, the NGO which filed the PIL, opposed grant of any further time to the Government, saying that the matter has been pending for the last three years. However, the bench disallowed his plea and remarked, “There is no urgency as the Presidential Order of 1950 has been challenged. You have come after more than 54 years.”

The PIL argues how paragraph three of the President’s “Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order” 1950— saying “no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste”—was coming in the way of granting SC status to Dalit Christians.