Delhi HC rejects PIL searching for NCM chief from non-Muslim, Sikh communities

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea searching for the appointment of members of minority communities aside from Muslims and Sikhs as chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).

The petition claimed that the chairperson of NCM has been appointed from two minority communities –Muslims and Sikhs – because the fee was established in 1978. Of the 16 chairpersons appointed to this point, 14 had been Muslims and two Sikhs.

It added that members of different minority communities, comparable to Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Jains, haven’t been represented as chairperson.

A Bench of Chief Justice DK. Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela mentioned the petitioner, Salek Chand Jain, might method the federal government along with his plea.

The court docket noticed that the National Commission for Minorities Act mandates the inclusion of members from minority communities within the fee, however doesn’t require the appointment of a chairperson from any particular neighborhood.

“Section 3 of the act solely offered that the fee shall encompass a chairperson, vice chairperson, and 5 members. The act doesn’t present that the fee shall comprise all of the members belonging to minority communities,” the court docket mentioned.

“The solely provision is that 5 members, together with the chairperson, shall be among the many minority communities. The provision doesn’t present that the members or the chairperson shall be from a specific minority neighborhood,” it added.

The petitioner mentioned he submitted a number of functions for the nomination of a chairperson from the Jain minority neighborhood, however “no fruitful outcome got here ahead within the final two years”.