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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (October 15, 205) sought a response from the Union government on long-pending vacancies in the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, while hearing a PIL plea filed by Mujahid Nafees, who claimed to be the convener of Minority Coordination Committee working on the welfare of minorities across India, pointed out that the commission cannot remain headless for so long.
Granting time to the Central government’s counsel to obtain instructions in the matter, the court said the petition was raising a very important issue.
“Do not wait for the next date of hearing. Please ensure that things start moving,” the court said.
The petition stated that the posts of chairperson, vice-chairperson and members of the NCM have been vacant since April this year, the month when last NCM chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura’s tenure completed.
The NCM, which works under the Ministry of Minority Affairs and has quasi-judicial powers, should have seven members, including the Chairperson, and the Vice-Chairperson. The National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992 mandates the appointment of one member from each of the six minority communities — Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, and Jain.
“There is a complete and systematic incapacitation of the National Commission for Minorities due to the Centre’s failure to appoint its head and members. This executive dereliction has rendered a vital statutory body, created by an Act of Parliament for the protection and welfare of India’s notified minority communities, entirely defunct and headless,” the plea states.
The petition added that the government’s inaction is further aggravated by the fact that it is in direct contravention of the spirit and letter of a prior order from the High Court where it had expressed its dissatisfaction with such delays and directed that vacancies be filled expeditiously within timeline.
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