2 Upper Castes Seek Medical Admission as Minority after Turning Buddhists, SC Terms it “New Type of Fraud”
NEW DELHI, Jan 28: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took strong exception and expressed serious doubts over the “conversion” of two upper-caste candidates in Haryana to Buddhism to claim minority reservation benefits.
A bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, was hearing a petition filed by Hisar resident Nikhil Kumar Punia who sought admission as a minority candidate on the basis of his claimed Buddhist faith.
The Supreme Court, while expressing to the petition, called it a “new type of fraud.” The court also sought a report from the chief secretary of Haryana on how minority certificates were granted and issued in the state. “You are a Punia? What minority are you? Let me ask this bluntly now. Which Punia are you,” the CJI questioned.
When the counsel for the petitioner replied that he belonged to the Jat Punia community, the CJI asked as to how he could then claim minority status. His counsel responded by saying that the petitioner had converted to Buddhism, to which the CJI remarked, “Wow! This is a new type of fraud.”
While expressing strong objection, the Chief Justice further said, “You want to snatch the rights of some genuine bona fide minority… you are one of the richest, best located, upper caste communities… holding agricultural lands and having facilities… you should be proud of your merit… instead of taking the rights of who are actually deprived.”
In the petition, the two aspirants wanted admission in Post Graduate course under the Buddhist minority quota in the Subharti Medical College in UP, a Buddhist minority educational institution. The petitioners also submitted certificates issued by a sub-divisional officer stating that they belonged to Buddhist minority community and added, “We have genuinely adopted Buddhism.”
“Then everybody will start… upper castes will start adopting… Don’t compel us to make further comments,” the CJI responded. The Supreme Court bench has also asked the Haryana chief secretary to place on record the guidelines behind the issuance of minority certificates. The court also sough clarification on whether candidates from the upper-caste general category can claim minority status by citing religious conversion.
“Let the chief secretary of Haryana inform: What are the guidelines for issuing a minority certificate? Is it permissible for an upper-class general category candidate, who is not covered under the Economically Weaker Sections and who had declared themselves as ‘general’ in a previous application, to subsequently declare themselves as belonging to the Buddhist minority?” the bench ordered.
The bench dismissed the plea for now, and remained open for further consideration on the issue of procedures adopted in granting minority certificates after the state government submits its response.
(Manas Dasgupta)
