Order justifying nominating only Muslims as head of minorities’ panel withdrawn

HC disposes PIL as govt. to consider afresh issue of not appointing members of other minorities as chairperson

The State government on Wednesday told the High Court of Karnataka that it has withdrawn an order passed on July 14, 2017, justifying the precedent of appointing only a member of the Muslim community as chairperson of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission on the basis that the population of Muslims in the State is highest among the six minority communities.

The government placed before the court a copy of the order, passed on January 28, withdrawing the order passed by the Secretary, Department of Minorities Welfare, Haj and Wakfs in July 2017 while disposing of a representation given by petitioner, Vinod B., a resident of Shivamogga. The order of January 28 states that the matter of appointment to the post of chairperson will be considered afresh.

Following this, a Division Bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad closed the PIL petition, filed by Mr. Vinod, who had questioned the legality of the July 2017 order.

“It is also a fact that the population of Muslims in Karnataka is the highest among the minority communities and hence it has been a precedent that the appointment of chairperson was made from among the Muslim community from the inception of the KSMC. Further as per 2011 census, the percentage of Muslim population in Karnataka is 12.91% compared to Christian (1.87%), Jain (0.72%), Sikh (0.05%), Buddhist (0.72%), and Parsis (0.1%),” the then secretary had stated in his order.

Mr. Vinod, a Christian, had in 2016 filed a PIL petition complaining that only Muslims are appointed as Chairpersons of the Commission and members of other minority communities were never been nominated as chairpersons. The court, in early 2017, had disposed of this PIL asking the petitioner to give a representation to the Secretary of the Department while directing the latter to consider it as per law.