A Calculated Gambit To Dodge Judicial Bullet? Modi Govt Sets Up Inquiry Commission To Re-Examine SC Status

Can a person from Scheduled Caste (SC), who has converted to Christianity or Islam, still be seen through the lens of his previous religious identity?

Centre Forms Inquiry Commission

The Central Government has set up a Commission of Inquiry to examine the claims and counterclaims on whether the definition of Scheduled Caste persons needs to be extended to include even those who have left the fold of Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.

The Commission is mandated to submit the report within a period of two years. It will be headed by former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and will have as its members UGC member Prof. Sushma Yadav, and retired IAS officer Ravinder Kumar Jain. 

Last month, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has asked the Centre to give its views on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Hinduphobic social justice warrior (SJW), Prashant Bhushan, to strike down paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950. This order excludes people professing any religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism from quota benefits. The next hearing is scheduled for October 11, and the government will now formally apprise the court of the notification of the Justice Balakrishnan-led panel.

That the highest court should take up a case that has huge implications for Hindu demography is telling, when larger issues involving equal rights for Hindus (like freeing temples from state control, or establishing denominational status to sampradayas and affirming deity rights) are still left in cold storage.

Terms Of Reference For The Commission

Here are some of the issues the commission would examine, other than looking into the matter of according SC status to persons converted to Christianity and Islam:

1. The implication of extending the SC status on the existing Scheduled Castes. This particular viewpoint has not been considered by earlier commissions.

2. The changes Scheduled Caste persons go through on converting to other religions in terms of their customs, traditions, social and other status discrimination and deprivation, and the implication of the same on the question of giving them Scheduled Caste status.

3. Any other questions that the Commission deems appropriate, in consultation with and with the consent of the Central Government.

Constitutional Perspective & Past Rulings

As per the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.

Over the years, many petitions were filed urging the Court to strike down the order and also consider "Dalit" Christians and Muslims as SCs and provided reservations. Several private member bills were introduced seeking to strike down the order.

In 1996, the Congress government under the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao introduced a Bill in Parliament to confer S.C. status on Dalit Christians in 1996, by amending the Constitution (SC) Order, 1950. The bill faced fierce resistance from the BJP. The party argued that it would cut into the benefits enjoyed by other S.Cs. The Rao government later abandoned the proposed bill.

iN 2004, the UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appointed a committed headed by a former Chief Justice (who was also later nominated to the Rajya Sabha by Congress government) to examine the question of extending SC/ST reservation to Muslims and Christians.

The Ranganath Misra Commission (officially called the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities), which submitted its report in May 2007, recommended that SC status should be “completely de-linked…from religion and…Scheduled Castes [should be made] fully religion-neutral like…Scheduled Tribes”.

In February 2015, while hearing the petition of K P Manu from Kerala, the two-judge bench ruled that a person could be accorded the status of SC if they reconvert to Hinduism.

It added that the person has to establish with absolute proof that he belongs to the caste that has been recognised by the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and must be accepted by people of his caste.

The order implied that after converting from Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism, the person cannot be accorded SC status. Only if he reconverts could the status be granted again.

Latest Petition Demanding Expansion of the SC Status

The petition was filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) in 2004. It was heard in 2015 before it was taken up again in 2022 with Prashant Bhushan representing the petitioners in the case.

On 31^st August 2022, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to make its stand clear in three weeks and scheduled a hearing on 11^th October 2022.

The current notification issued by the Centre must be looked at in this context.

Implications of Forming a Commission

As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, certain groups have been demanding the inclusion of people converted to other religions who still want to be identified as Scheduled Caste and continue receiving the benefits of the reservation in jobs, and educational institutions.

However, there are certain representatives of the existing SCs who have objected to such a grant.

Considering, the politically heated environment in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the Modi government has been extra cautious about the manner in which politics of caste might be played out to inflame passions. The judiciary, which has often been seen as overstepping its brief might open up a new front without realising the implications of its order on the larger social base.

The setting up of the Commission, therefore, could be seen as a pre-emptive move by the government to ring-fence an adverse order by an over-zealous judiciary that could lead to more disturbances and a politically charged atmosphere.  

The government has ensured that the voices of existing SCs are also heard in the matter, while also allowing the commission a wider scope to take in account all perspectives.

Moreover, by forming the commission, the government has brought the matter back into the executive’s court. Once the findings of the Commission come out, it would be the prerogative of the executive to take a call on the matter.