less than a year after being given a minority tag, the Jain community has been asked to wait for four months till the Centre decides on their demands for an equal share of representation and benefits in the largesse doled out by the Minority Affairs Ministry.
Claiming that the Minority Affairs Ministry has not had a representative from Jain community despite 11 States giving minority status to them, the Akhil Bhartiya Jain Mahasabha approached the apex court on Wednesday seeking equal share of funds made available by the Minority Affairs Ministry. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu directed ASG Pinky Anand to consider the representation within four months.
The order brought cheer to the Jain community which was recognized as minority community by a Central on January 27, 2014. This was the only addition made to the list of minorities held by five communities since October 23, 1993 namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.
The petition alleged that over the years, the bulk of budget allocation and financial assistance was cornered by one community to achieve political ends. Under RTI, the Jain community had asked Ministry about the criteria to declare any community as minority. But the Centre claimed it had no records in this regard.