New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued a sharp rebuke to the Union government, instructing it to submit a “better affidavit” regarding the ongoing vacancies that have rendered the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) entirely non-functional. The court specifically demanded comprehensive details about the appointment process and a firm timeline for its conclusion.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia critically assessed a status report filed by an under-secretary from the Ministry of Minority Affairs, labeling it as “absolutely bald and vague.”
“It does not say as to when the ministry initiated the process of appointment and what all are the different stages of the process and after initiation of the said process, it has progressed to what extent,” the bench observed during a recent hearing. Consequently, the court ordered, “We thus require the respondent to file a better affidavit giving the aforesaid details and also putting in place a timeline within which the appointments can be enforced.”
The Centre has been granted a two-week period to file the revised affidavit, with the matter slated for further hearing on February 27.
This directive follows the court’s earlier expression of serious concern on January 30 regarding the NCM’s operational paralysis. The court had noted that the Commission, a statutory body established for the protection and welfare of India’s notified minority communities, has been operating without a chairperson or any members since April of last year.
The judicial intervention stems from a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mujahid Nafees, who serves as the convenor of the Minority Coordination Committee. Nafees’s petition contends that the “complete and systematic incapacitation” of the NCM is a direct result of the government’s “abject failure” to appoint its chairperson, vice-chairperson, and all five members.
The plea unequivocally states that 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 PIL specifically seeks a judicial direction to the Centre, through the Ministry of Minority Affairs, to immediately initiate and complete the appointment process for the chairperson, vice-chairperson, and all five members of the NCM, in strict accordance with the National Commission for Minorities Act. Furthermore, it advocates for the completion of these appointments in a transparent and time-bound manner, preferably within four weeks of the court’s order.
