New Delhi: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Friday welcome the Allahabad High Court's stay on an order which said Muslims in UP must not be treated as a minority group.
A single-judge bench of the same court gave the order on Thursday. The commission said a stay on the order was "positive" and praised the Uttar Pradesh government for filing a review petition.
"Compared to Thursday's judgement, today's development was positive," said NCM Chairperson M Hamid Ansari.
A single-judge bench of the High Court had yesterday ruled that Muslims in Uttar Pradesh could no longer be treated as a religious minority.
A two-judge bench today stayed the order when the matter came up for hearing through an urgent application moved by the state government.
"The very fact that the order was stayed within 24 hours shows how untenable it was," Ansari said. Observing that the state had done the needful in presenting its case to the court today, he said the "Centre would also step in if needed".
"The state considered the implications and decided to
appeal," Ansari said. "Yesterday's order was a surprising one and I am not surprised that the review today has overturned it because the reason which were cited in the news reports for the honourable judges conclusion simply did not make any sense."
"The Central data clearly showed which are the minorities in the country or for that matter the state, and for the judge to decide, as it was reported that Muslims are 18 per cent so they cease to be minorities makes no sense whatsoever," he said.
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