Supreme Court: Plea Challenging Centre’s Decision To Set Up Panel To Examine Schedule Caste Status Dalit Converts

The Writ petition has been filed before the Supreme Court Of India, wherein challenging the decision of Centre’s for setting up a commission to inquire into the possibility of according Schedule Caste (SC) status to Dalits who have over the years converted to Christianity or Islam.

It has been claimed by the petitioner that if the order is allowed of setting up the commission, wherein hearing the main petition may be further delayed, which has remained pending for 18+ years now, causing irreparable damage to the Christians of Scheduled caste origin, who has also been denied by the SC privileges for the last 72 years. The petition in the plea stated that the delay is affecting the fundamental rights of the affected community and that giving speedy justice is mandatory as per Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The court noted that the main Writ Petition (Civil) No. 180/2004 and other related petitions, wherein seeking to announce the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 paragraph 3’s religious ban for Christians and Muslims as unconstitutional is already pending adjudication before the honorable Supreme Court.

The plea challenges the Paragraph (3) of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 which was issued in exercise of Article 341(1) of the Constitution of India. It has been stated in the order that Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph 2, no person who is professing a religion which is different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism who shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste.

Therefore, the present plea has been filed by one Pratap Baburao Pandit, who is a secretary of Pragat Padhividhar Sanghatna (PPS), a social and educational Trust which is based in Maharashtra, Pune wherein working for the welfare of the downtrodden and weaker sections of society, including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It has also been stated that as per article 341, subdivision 1, the categorization of caste is the prime factor for giving the scheduled caste status, whereas on the basis of a religion, the Christians of SC origin are restricted to avail the Scheduled Caste status, which is against Article 14, Article 15, Article 16 and Article 25 of the Constitution.

The court noted that on the 30.05.2022, it has been asked by the Top Court to the Centre for filing their comprehensive reply within three weeks’ time and had ordered that final hearing of the matter would take place on 11.10.2022.

The Union Of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment) on 06.10.2022 appointed a new commission to study the said subject wherin rejecting the report of National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) otherwise known as Ranganath Misra Commission report, which had also been supported the stance of the petitioner.

Therefore, it has been submitted by the petitioner wherein submitting that the issue has already been resolved by way of several studies or reports of Statutory Commissions like Natioanl SC Commission, Mandal Commission, Gopal Singh Commission, National Commission for Religious and linguistic Minorities, Sachhar Committee Report, Elayaperumal Commission etc. Therefore, it is stated that appointment of a new commission, while the matter before the honourable court is pending for final hearing, is wrong and is with the intention of delaying justice to the
petitioners.