Plea in Delhi High Court challenges discontinuation of reservation for Anglo-Indians in Lok Sabha, State legislatures

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking restoration of representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the Parliament and State Assemblies by way of reservation..The petition filed by Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations has challenged the 104th amendment to the Constitution of India which while extending the reservation of seats for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for a further period of ten years, discontinued the same for Anglo-Indian community. .A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla which heard the matter on Friday, said that it wants to see the initial thoughts of the framers of Constitution during the Constituent Assembly Debates on the issue and whether the similar situation prevails today or not.It, therefore, asked the Central government to file relevant documents and parliamentary committee debates on the issue within six weeks and posted the case for preliminary hearing on November 18..The petition argued that through the 104th amendment, the political representation granted to the Anglo-Indian community by the Constituent Assembly was removed arbitrarily in violation of the principles of equality and the underlying principles in the Preamble of the Constitution..Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Central government, stated that according to the recent census data there are only 296 Anglo-Indians left in the country and their representation was meant for a particular time.“After 104th amendment, there is an intelligible differentia. If backwardness is the criteria, they (Anglo-Indian community) have all urbanised. Where is the backwardness? There are surveys… Majority of them now live in urban area. They are not backward. For SC/ST there is social backwardness. That’s the difference,” ASG said..Advocate Kuriakose Varghese, appearing for the petitioner, said that one community was being singled out because of their low numbers.“I would straight away refuse what has been said about numbers. They have said there are only 12 Anglo-Indians in Kerala. The number is much higher. But the real challenge is Part XVI of the constitution. It deals with protection of certain classes. Two categories of people, the SC/ST and Anglo-Indian were put under special safeguard. It allowed for reservation… When it comes to smaller microscopic communities, their right to representation gets obliterated,” the counsel said..The bench, however, asked how the community will integrate into the mainstream of the society if these provisions were to continue.Justice Sanghi said that there is no bar on people from the Anglo-Indian community intertwining with the society and then emerging as a leader.“At that time of independence, it was necessary to give some assurance that they will be protected. But now after 70 years, it is time they integrated. What purpose is left now... The objective has been achieved. The community has integrated,” said Justice Chawla..The petition has been filed through KMNP Law.

Plea in Delhi High Court challenges discontinuation of reservation for Anglo-Indians in Lok Sabha, State legislatures

Prashant Jha

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