New Delhi: Religious or linguistic minorities cannot be determined at the district level, it should be done at the state level, the Supreme Court has said. The Supreme Court said in its observation that it has been said in the past that minorities should be determined at the state level. A bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ravindra Bhat heard the petition filed by Devkinandan Thakur. The petition challenged the fixation of minorities at the national level. The matter will now come up for hearing in the first week of September.

In a notification of 1993, the central government had declared Muslim, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist and Parsi communities as minorities at the national level. The petition had sought that it be fixed at the district level. Earlier, the apex court had rejected the demand for the determination of minorities at the district and block level and directed it to be done at the state level. Earlier, the apex court had asked the petitioner to bring evidence to show in which states Hindus are being deprived of the rights of minorities even after the population is decreasing.

In another petition, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay has also asked the Supreme Court to grant minority status and benefits to Hindus in nine states. However, the Supreme Court has also said that it is not the job of the court to determine minorities at the national level or at any level. The top court said that you are directly saying that Hindus should be declared a minority, we cannot make such an announcement. The apex court said the reason for this is that it does not have such data available for all sectors.

After Ashwini Upadhyay's consent, the petition was listed by the apex court along with another case. However, the fixation of minorities at the district level was held by the Supreme Court to be against an earlier judgment delivered by an 11-judge bench. The petitioner said that Ladakh has 1 per cent Hindus, Mizoram 2.75 per cent, Lakshadweep 2.77 per cent, Kashmir 4 per cent, Nagaland 8.74 per cent, Meghalaya 11.52 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh 29 per cent, Punjab 38.49 per cent and Manipur 41.29 per cent Hindus. which minorities should get.

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