Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 10: The PDP-BJP Coalition Government has virtually ruled out setting up of Minority Commission in Jammu and Kashmir and said that implementation of National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 is not a binding and it is the sole prerogative of the State Legislature to take decision on this aspect. Moreover, the State is of the stand that applicability of the schemes of Union Ministry of Minority Affairs is not related to implementation of NCM Act.
This has been conveyed to the Supreme Court in an affidavit filed by Sajad Ahmad Khan, Commissioner Secretary to Government, Social Welfare Department in pursuance to the last directions issued by the Apex Court in the writ petition titled Ankur Sharma Versus Union of India and Others. The petition will come up for hearing before the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra tomorrow.
“The State Government will consider and examine the need and feasibility of setting up of State Minority Commission at the relevant point of time as and when need arises based upon the critical study of the social and educational backwardness of the minorities spread across various regions of Jammu and Kashmir”, read the affidavit, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
It is pertinent to mention here that in compliance of order dated March 27, 2017 issued by the Supreme Court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs vide Memorandum No.1-13/2016-NCM dated March 31, 2017 had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Union Ministry of Minority Affairs and comprising of senior officers of State and Central Governments to take a considered decision on formation of Minority Commission for Jammu and Kashmir.
This committee has held several rounds of discussions on the difficulties of minorities in Jammu and Kashmir and the last meeting was convened on October 4, 2017.
Quoting the consensus arrived at after discussion on the legal and factual issues, the Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare Department said, “in terms of Section 5 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the power of State Legislature is exclusive and absolute in respect of all matters except those mentioned in the List-I and List-III of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution as applicable to the State”, adding “in case State Government considers it just and equitable, it can bring its own legislation for protection of minorities by taking a policy decision in this regard”.
In the affidavit, it has been submitted that considering special needs of the minorities residing in the State, a special project “Chief Minister’s Inclusive Development Initiative” is being formulated by the State Government.
“The project will have focused development efforts for certain special segments of the society and will include upgrading civic infrastructure such as health, education, water etc, scholarship scheme for students not covered under schemes of Minority Affairs Ministry so as to take care of the difficulties of special segments of the population including minorities residing in Jammu and Kashmir”, the Government said.
“The National Commission for Minorities Act extends to whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the minority communities meant for extension of welfare programmes of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs are those which have been notified by the Central Government and the applicability of these schemes is not related to the applicability of the National Commission for Minorities Act in a particular State”, the State Government said in the affidavit.
“Minorities as notified by the Central Government, who are residing in the State of J&K, are as such entitled to all the benefits under various schemes meant for minorities including the Prime Minister’s 12 point programme for the welfare of minorities in spite of the fact that National Commission for Minorities Act is not applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir”, the Commissioner Secretary said.
In the affidavit it has also been submitted that the functions of National Commission for Minorities are provided in Section 9 of the Act and the same doesn’t include taking up schemes/programmes by the NCM or notification of minority communities. “It is the Central Government which notifies minority under the provisions of the Act”, read the affidavit.
Referring Section 9 of the NCM Act, the J&K Government said, “one of the functions of the National Commission for Minorities is to make recommendations for effective implementation of safeguards for the protection of the interests of minorities by the Central Government or State Governments”, adding “as per Sub-Section 3 of Section 9 of the NCM Act, any recommendation from the Commission shall be placed before the Legislature of the State along with a memorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to the State and reasons for non-acceptance”.
“It is as such obvious that the benefit of different schemes for minorities as notified by the Central Government for entire country including J&K are not flowing out of the NCM Act as the same doesn’t not provide for conferring upon any benefit in favour of the minorities”, the affidavit said, adding “for targeting beneficiaries for the schemes of Union Ministry of Minority Affairs two criteria are used and these are financial criteria of below poverty line or fixing up a threshold income level and meritorious candidates among the minorities”.
Dubbing as misplaced the contention that scholarships cannot be awarded to the students of the minority communities in J&K because of non-implementation of NCM Act, the Government said, “scholarship schemes of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs are meant exclusively for minorities and is given to all the six minority communities who fulfill the eligibility criteria within the funds allocated in the budget”.
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