New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court Monday termed as “completely unsatisfactory” the affidavit filed by the Centre in response to a plea seeking to fill up the vacancies in the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
Justice Prathiba M Singh said vacanies ought to have been filled expeditiously by the Central government in a time-bound manner for various positions including chairperson and members from Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Sikh and Jain communities, in the commission.
The court noted it was an admitted position that out of six positions, five were lying vacant.
“The mere fact that the persons of eminence, ability and integrity have to be appointed, would not mean that the said appointments would not be expeditiously filled/ made. The vacancies ought to be expeditiously filled and there ought to be a proper timeline for the same,” the high court said.
It directed the Centre to file a report within a week on the status of specific appointment along with the timeline and listed the matter for further hearing on April 15.
The petition by Abhay Ratan Bauddh has said that only the post of Vice Chairman of the commission was functional since October 2020.
The court perused the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs stating that the National Commission for Minorities Act did not set out any timeline for the appointment of its members and that due care and caution was being exercised by the authorities in filling up the vacancies.
Justice Singh said she was “very surprised” by the ministry’s affidavit and added that the affidavit shouls mention about the steps taken but they are in a way saying that they do not intend to fill the vacancies presently and they will do it on their own free will.
”Some steps are required to be taken. How did this affidavit pass lawyers’ eyes,” the court said.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma assured the court that the process would be expedited and he will pursue the matter to fill the vacancies expeditiously.
He said the government will file a better affidavit and also agreed that the fear of the court and the petitioner was well founded and agreed that the appointments have to be made in a time-bound manner.
Sharma told the court that the vacancies have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic and the commission was otherwise functioning efficiently.
He added that out of 1279 cases listed before the commission, 815 were disposed of.
However, advocate Manan Aggarwal, representing the petitioner, said the commission cannot be converted into a one-man body and if representation is not given to all the communities, it cannot be held that the commission was fully functional.
The plea, filed through advocate Vinay Kumar, has also said that the posts started becoming vacant since April 2020 and since October 2020, only one post was functional.
It has further said that despite bringing the situation to the ministry’s attention, nothing has been done by the government.
