The Manipur High Court has extended a period of one year for consideration of the March 27 order for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list.
The state of Manipur has filed an application to extend the time limit for a further period of one year for consideration of the judgment and order of the HC.
It stated that the application is filed for extension of time for consideration of the representation of the petitioners due to the serious law and order situation prevailing in the state, as many innocent lives are lost.
Therefore, the application is intended to prevent any further loss of life in the state and to preserve humanity, it stated. And, the applicants may be allowed to consult all the stakeholders, including NGOS, CSOs, religious leaders, etc. of all communities, it added.
Furthermore, it is imperative for the state government to complete all the technical formalities before the representation of the petitioners are considered, it mentioned.
All these consultations and formalities could be started only after the tension is reduced and normalcy returns to the state which may take the next few months, it stated. Further, at present, each and every machinery of state is wholeheartedly involved in saving the life of the people of Manipur, it mentioned.
The respondents refuted the application, stating that it is only to drag on the compliance of the direction of the HC. They observed that the applicants have filed the present miscellaneous case and the prayer cannot be acceded to. At this,the counsel argued that threemonths’ time may be granted to the applicants for consideration of the direction of the High Court
It may be mentioned that the HC had disposed of a petition filed for sending recommendation to the ministry of tribal affairs for inclusion of ST list of Meitei community.
The HC had directed to consider and dispose of the representation of STDCM and submit recommendation in reply to the government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs within a period of two months or within a time frame.
The court also dicrected to include Meetei/Meitei community in the Schedule Tribe list of the Indian Constitution as a “tribe among tribes of Manipur”, maintaining the tribal status of Meetei/Meitei existed before 21.09.1949 i.e. before signing of the Merger Agreement as part of the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement of Manipur into the Indian Union and also direction on the fourth respondent to restore the Scheduled Tribe status of Meetei/Meitei community.
“This Court is of the view that the language of the order dated March 27, 2023 in para (iii) is only an innocuous order,” stated the HC referring to the previous judgment.
The HC stated that despite the prevailing law and order situation in the state, now the applicants have prayed for a one-year period for the consideration of the direction.
It also noted that opposing the order passed, a lot of protests were made in the state by groups of people and in certain places, some untoward incidents took place, causing loss of human life, which the HC with a heavy heart noted through media reports.
Now, the law-and-order situation in the state improved with the timely action taken by the Central and state governments, it observed.
“Since the state themselves have come forward and prayed for one year time to consideration of the case of the respondents as directed at direction, the High Court finds that the prayer of the applicants appears to be bona fide and if the time as prayed for is extended, no prejudice would be caused to the respondents,” stated the HC.
“If the time is not extended, the state and the people would be put to many hardships, which cannot be compensated in any form. Therefore, in the interest of justice and considering the complexity of the nature of the case, the High Court is inclined to extend the time for a period of one year for consideration of the representation,” the HC added.
