Manipur Violence: HC Deletes From 2023 Judgment Its Instructions To Consider ST Status For Meiteis

This March 2023 verdict by the high court is said to have triggered the ongoing ethenic violence in Manipur as the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki-Zo communities clashed on the issue of ST status.

The now deleted paragraph said that the Manipur government “shall consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously…”, a direction.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: A Bench of the Manipur High Court on Wednesday deleted the paragraph from its own March 2023 judgment that had instructed the state government to consider including Meiteis in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST). This March 2023 verdict by the high court is said to have triggered the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur as the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki-Zo communities clashed on the issue of ST status.

The high court after hearing the review petition filed against the March 2023 verdict, ordered the deletion of Paragraph 17(iii) that had instructed the Manipur government to consider the inclusion of Meiteis in the list of Scheduled Tribes.  

The now deleted paragraph said that the State government “shall consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously…”, a direction.

The court noted that, as per the decision of the Supreme Court in “(2001) 1 SCC 4, State of Maharashtra -vs- Milind and Others" Courts cannot and should not expand jurisdiction to deal with the question as to whether a particular case, sub-caste; a group or part of tribe or sub-tribe is included in any one of the Entries mentioned in the Presidential Orders issued under Articles 341 and 342. The top court had noted that the Clause (2) of the said Article has expressly stated that said orders cannot be amended or varied except by law made by Parliament.

The court arrived at the decision to delete the paragraph after a joint perusal of the procedure laid down by the Centre for inclusion in or exclusion from the list of Scheduled Tribe issued under Article 342 of the Constitution of India in Clause (g) of the Annual Report, 2013-14 of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and the Constitutional Bench's decision in State of Maharashtra V.Milind & Ors. 

"I am satisfied and of the view that the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) of the Hon’ble Single Judge dated 27.03.2023 passed in W.P.(C) No. 229 of the 2023 which is impugned herein needs to be reviewed, as the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) of the Hon’ble Single Judge is against the observation made in the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Accordingly, the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) needs to be deleted and is ordered accordingly for deletion of the Para No. 17(iii) of the judgment and order dated 27.03.2023 passed in W.P.(C) No. 229 of 2023." the high court's order read.

After ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, tribal bodies including All Manipur Tribal Students’ Union appealed against the March 2023 order in the High Court. Much later, the original Meitei petitioner in the case filed a review petition, seeking only that Paragraph 17(iii) be changed, objecting to the tribal bodies right to file a review plea.

The Supreme Court had also questioned this direction by the high court when tribal bodies appealed against the order last year.