The Supreme Court on Monday said the determination of Muslims as minorities within the State of Jammu & Kashmir where the community has a 68 per cent population is an ‘important’ issue as it left it to the Centre and State Government to hold a meeting and devise a way out on this ‘contentious’ issue.
The court order came on a PIl filed by a Jammu-based lawyer Ankur Sharma who pointed out the grim reality in the State where Muslims cornered all benefits accruing to minorities despite being a majority within the State.
He insisted upon the Court to pass directions in order to form a State Minorities Commission for determining who is a ‘minority’ in the State.
A Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices DY Chandr-achud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, “This is a very, very important issue. Both Centre and State Government should sit together and try to find a solution to the contentious issue.”
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta told the Court that the issue was being considered by the Centre at a pan-India level. He said the situation was not unique to Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, about which the petition focused upon. Instead, he drew parallel with several religious communities enjoying minority benefits despite being a democratic majority in a particular State.
But the Bench asked the Centre to deal with Jammu and Kashmir first and gave four weeks time to devise a solution. It appreciated the initiative of senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for J&K for his willingness to sit and try achieving a solution to the ‘contentious’ issue.
“We hope and expect that a fruitful decision will emerge on the next date of hearing,” the Bench added.
The petitioner requested the Court to pass some interim order against disbursal of financial schemes for minorities in favour of Muslims in the State as this had led to thousands of crores of rupees of public money been squandered. But the Bench refused to pass any order.
The PIl insisted on constitution of a State Minorities Commission as the provisions of the National Commission for Minorities Act did not apply to Jammu and Kashmir due to Article 370 of the Constitution. By not forming the Commission, petition claimed that the State Government violated Article 29 (protection of interests of minorities) and Article 30 (right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions) of the Constitution.