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Supreme Court ruling: Avoid bias in favour of any community
Warning all governments not to pursue any policy preferential to one community, the Supreme Court has ruled that the essence of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution was to ensure equal treatment between majority and minority institutions. “No one type or category of institution should be disfavoured or, for that matter, receive more favourable treatment than another,” an 11-judge Constitution Bench headed by former Chief Justice (CJI) B.N. Kirpal has ruled by 6:5 majority.
On Article 30 (1), Justice Kirpal, writing the majority judgement, said it was a sort of guarantee or assurance to the linguistic and religious minority institutions of their right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
“Secularism and equality being two of the basic features of the Constitution, Article 30 (1) ensures protection to the linguistic and religious minorities, thereby preserving the secularism of the country. Furthermore, the principle of equality must necessarily apply to the enjoyment of such rights,” the former CJI said. Other judges of the bench who agreed with the former CJI were Justice G B Pattanaik (now Chief Justice), Justice S Rajendra Babu, Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice P V Reddi and Justice Arijit Pasayat.
The majority judgement has said no government can frame laws that would discriminate against minorities with regard to the establishment and administration of educational institutions vis-a-vis educational institutions established by the non-minority community. “Any law or rule or regulation that would put the educational institutions run by the minorities at a disadvantage when compared to the institutions run by others will have to be struck down,” the Bench said.
“At the same time, there also cannot be any reverse discrimination,” Justice Kirpal said. He meant that a minority institution could not be more favoured as compared to the majority institution. The Supreme Court said that the laws of the land should apply equally to the majority institutions as well as the minority institutions. “The minority institutions must be allowed to do what the non-minority institutions are permitted to do,” the former CJI said.
Punjab: Tension over SGPC poll
Punjab is tense in the wake of hectic lobbying for Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) elections. After executing a pre-dawn police crackdown on Akali Dal(Badal) workers, on Nov 8, the Congress Government has sprung another surprise and promulgated section 144, CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), in the entire State apparently to prevent any law and order disturbance in the wake of the SGPC Executive election on Nov 12.
The order which would ban assembly of more than four persons at a place and carrying of arms, in the State has caused consternation in the Akali Dal (Badal) camp as its plan to conduct the SGPC members in a cavalcade would come to nought. Making this announcement at a news conference, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, flying straight from Mount Abu (Rajasthan), also barred entry of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to Amritsar along with his National Security Guards. He said the State Government had informed the NSG headquarters in New Delhi that Badal could enter Amritsar sans NSG guards and, if needed, he would be provided security cover by the State police.
The Chief Minister, however, assured that all SGPC members would be allowed free access to the venue of polling inside the Golden Temple complex. But nobody would be allowed to enter Amritsar city with security guards and arms. The Chief Minister, however, said tight security would be maintained in and around Amritsar. He indicated that the police would be heavily guarding the road dividing the SGPC complex and the Golden Temple. Asked if Badal would be allowed entry to the SGPC headquarters where elections would take place, the Chief Minister said: “No”.
Badal could go to his party office, but there was no need for him to enter the SGPC premises, he said. Justifying the police action against Akali Dal (Badal) workers in which about 630 of them have been put behind bars so far, Amarinder Singh said this was required in view of the threatening statements issued by Badal and his partymen. “They had started talking in terms of bloodshed and morchas (battle fronts) so it was necessary that preventive action was taken,” said the Chief Minister. He said the police crackdown was targeted at miscreants and those who are potential trouble-shooters.
After its drubbing in the Assembly elections, that saw the Congress sweep, the Badal camp, it is alleged, has been itching for a clash and is using the SGPC poll as an excuse to whip up passions. The Badal group has been alleging that the Congress was victimizing the former Chief Minister and his party workers and filing false cases of corruption to harass them with political motives.
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