Minorities right in india

MINORITIES RIGHTS IN

INDIA

• According to Wharton Concise Law Dictionary the word ‘minority’ means “an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority is a group numerically smaller than the rest of population…

• A Sociological minority is not necessarily numerically minority.

• The Constitution of India does not define the word ‘minority’.

• Article 30(1) starts with the word ‘all minorities whether based on religion or language…”

• In Re Kerala Education Bill (AIR 1958 SC 956) – The Supreme Court observed that it easy to say minority meant a community which is numerically less than 50 per.

• But the question arose that 50 percent of what?

INTRODUCTION

• Existence of the Minority concept.• After First World War the International

protection of Minorities became the great fashion.

• The universal declaration of Human Rights 1948 and its two covenant of 1966- “all human beings are equal…”.

• The Sub-commission for Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities- Which defined the term ‘minority’ and also gave certain rights to the minority people.

BACKGROUND

The State Minority Commission Act usually empowers the Local Government to notify the minorities- i.e.• Sec 2© of Bihar Minorities Commission Act, 1991.• Sec 2(d) of Karnataka Minorities Commission Act, 1994.• Sec 2(d) of Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1994.• Sec 2© of West Bengal Minorities Commission Act, 1996.• Sec 2(d) of Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1998.• Sec 2(d) of Madhya Pradesh Minorities Commission Act, 1996.• Sec 2(d) of Delhi Minorities Commission Act, 1999. etc..

STATE COMMISSION FOR

MINORITIES

• In India, Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution prohibits the state from making any discrimination on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them (Article 15) or

• In matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state (Article 16).

• However, the provisions of these two articles do take adequate cognizance of the fact that there had been a wide disparity in the social and educational status of different sections of a largely caste-based, tradition- bound society with large-scale poverty and illiteracy.

RIGHTS OF MINORITIES

EQUALITY

Articles 29 confer the following rights to the minorities-:• The minority people have the right to protect

their language, script and culture, and conserve the same- Article 29(1)

• The minority people have the right to admission into any educational institution maintained by the state or receiving aid out of state funds- Article 29(2) (State of Madras v. Champakam AIR 1951 SC 226)

• Art. 15(4) was inserted in the Constitution in its first amendment after the Champakam case. It provided reservation in educational institution for schedule castes and schedule tribes.

CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS

• Any reservation of seats in any educational institution is not justified under Art. 15(4) cannot be valid. The kind of communal reservation invalidated in Champakam would still be valid under Art. 15(4) as that reservation was based on religion, race, caste and was not based on the backward classes, schedule castes and schedule tribes only.

• This article is confined only to minority but extends to all citizens whether belonging to minority or majority group.

• Article 29 does not refer to any religion, even though the marginal note of the article mentions the interest of minorities

CONT..

• The minorities have the right to establish educational institution basing on religion or language of their choice- Article 30(1)

• The minorities have the right to administer the educational institution basing on religion or language of their choice- Article 30(1)

• In Ahmedabad St. Xavier College v. State of Gujarat AIR 1974 SC 1389- Supreme court pointed out the spirit behind the Art. 30(1) is the conscience of the nation that the minorities, religious as well as linguistic, are not prohibited from establishing and administering educational institutions of their choice for the purpose of giving their children the best general education to make them complete men and women of the country.

ARTICLE 30

• The minorities have the right to get the compensation for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established by them-Article 30 (1-a)

• Art. 30(1-a) was added in 1978 by 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India. This article became necessary because Art. 31 was being abrogated from the Constitution.

• But the question arose whether State is to give adequate compensation for the property acquired? Supreme Court in Society of St. Joseph College v. Union of India commented on the scope of this article that it has been introduced in Constitution because the Parliament in its constituent capacity apprehended that the minority educational institution could be compelled to close down or curtail their activities by the expedient of acquiring their property and paying them inadequate amount as compensation

CONT..

• The word ‘administer’ and ‘establish’ in Art. 30(1) have to be read conjunctively. Therefore, a minority can claim a right to administer an educational institution only if it has been establish by it and not otherwise. The Court in T.M.A. Pai case was unanimously of the view that the right to establish and administer an institution in Art. 30(1) of Constitution comprises the rights (a) to admit students (b) to setup a reasonable fee structure © to constitute a governing body (d) to appoint staff (teaching or non-teaching), and (e) to take action if there is negligence of duty on the part of any of the employees.

ESTABLISH AND ADMINISTER

• Art. 30(2)- The government shall not show any discrepancy in granting the aid to educational institutions established by minorities.

• The state cannot discriminate the institution established by the minorities with the institutions established by the majority.

CONT..

We can see the consequences of not defining the term ‘minority’ in the Constitution in the legal interpretation of the different courts in India.The difference is not only in the courts but we can look into our daily lives discussion with the people.Guidelines for implementation of Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities which provides certain privileges to the people belonging to the minorities group. There are several schemes made by the government but failed to implement the same.

CONCLUSION