‘Foreign Contributions’ reason for keeping Dalit Muslims, Christians out of SC list: Union govt   

• It is submitted that there exists a clear intelligible differentia between local contributions to the sector and foreign contributions
• The affidavit “contradicts itself at several junctures,” and that there is “a lack of clarity on its arguments defending the current criteria”
• The government has not explained how it distinguished between the two broad groups

In a bizarre statement, the Union government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court claimed that since Islam and Christianity have “foreign” contributions, the Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are being kept out of the Scheduled Castes list.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment filed the affidavit in October alleged that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the constitution as it discriminates against members of Scheduled Caste communities who have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.

The report notes that the affidavit “contradicts itself at several junctures,” and that there is “a lack of clarity on its arguments defending the current criteria” for determining which communities can be included in the Scheduled Castes list, according to a report published in The Hindu. However, the government has not explained how it distinguished between the two broad groups of Dalit people – those within the SC list and those outside – using this classification.

“It is submitted that the present is a case of classification between Indian citizens and foreigners which cannot be doubted on any count. It is well established that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification,” the government claimed. “It is submitted that there exists a clear intelligible differentia between local contributions to the sector and foreign contributions,” it added.

The Union government thus makes a case to distinguish between Scheduled Caste communities practising Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism and Scheduled Caste communities practising other religions, reported gusty news portal The Wire. The news portal further reported that the Union government submitted that a “twin test of classification” – purportedly laid down by a “bench of higher combinations than Shayara Bano Supra – states that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification.

“It is submitted that it postulates that permissible classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group, and the differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question,” the Union government says.