New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the petition seeking an extension of reservation available to the Scheduled Caste community to Dalits who have converted to other faiths in January 2023.
The bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Vikram Nath was hearing a plea by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), All India Christian Movement Akhil Maharshtra Muslim, All India Christian Federation and United for Dalit Christian Rights.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for CPIL contended before the court that it is unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of religion and three religions are included in the SC reservation but others are not.
"Justice Ranganathan's commission has already said this is discriminatory. Now Central government is saying, 18 years after this plea was filed, they want to appoint another commission to look into the issue. The matter will then get adjourned for two more years," said Bhushan.
Justice Kaul said that the issue must be predicated on the idea that the caste system was part of Hinduism. Bhushan said that Sikhs and Buddhists have been included but other faiths are not. And even though the caste system was not there in theory, everyone in other faiths too faced discrimination.
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It was argued by one of the petitioners in court that the top court had said in one of its judgements that if forefathers converted to another religion and then the person comes back to Hinduism, the benefit of reservation would be granted as the disadvantage continues.
SG Tushar Mehta appearing for the government said that the government has decided to not accept the Ranganathan commission which was formed to examine the issue and has created a new commission now headed by retired Justice KG Balakrishnan.
The court said it will first decide whether it should stay in its hands till the report of the new commission is out or whether it should proceed on the basis of material already in the record. Due to the non-availability of SG Tushar Mehta for any further arguments, the court posted the matter for hearing again in January next year.
