HC order on Muslims stayed

A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court today stayed a single judge judgement denying minority status to Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

The Bench comprising Justice S R Alam and Justice Krishna Murari gave the stay order after preliminary hearing of the review petition filed by the state government challenging yesterday's verdict of Justice S N Srivastava.

The state government, which moved an urgent application for hearing, argued that it was not necessary for the single judge to adjudicate on the minority status of Muslims since this matter was neither before him nor any relief was sought.

The stay came on the eve of the first phase of the crucial elections to the UP Assembly after yesterday's order had triggered an outcry among almost all political parties excluding the BJP and several Muslim organisations.

Highlighting the urgency of the matter, Advocate General S M A Kazmi submitted that "hundreds of welfare schemes run by the state government would be affected by yesterday's judgement and all the benefits accruing to Muslims under those schemes will come to an end."

Challenging the judgement, Advocate General S M A Kazmi said, "The order was passed without reasons. Besides, the question of minority status for Muslims was neither before the single judge nor any relief was sought on the basis thereof. It was, therefore, not necessary to adjudicate on this issue."

The Advocate General also submitted that the Division Bench had already stayed proceedings before the single judge bench on a similar petition after a special leave petition was filed and raised questions as to who should and what should be the criterion for the minority status for Muslims.

"As such", Kazmi submitted, "the single judge bench should not have passed the judgement on one petition while the proceedings were stayed on the other on the ground that the issue of minority did not arise out of that petition."

The Division Bench, while staying the order, said the special leave applications of the state with regard to both the petitions would be taken up for hearing simultaneously.

Justice Srivastava had yesterday passed only the operative portion of his judgement saying he was doing so as he was scheduled to sit in the Lucknow bench of the court from April 9. The rest of the judgement would follow, he had said in his order.

Applying the "twin criteria" of population and strength of a religious minority and relying on the census reports of 1951 and 2001, he had ruled that Muslims in UP could no longer be treated as a religious minority.