NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up Manipur High Court for its recent judgment of inclusion of the Meetei/ Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list.
Notably, the judgment had triggered violent clashes between tribal and non-tribal communities leading to widespread violence across the north-eastern state.
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A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that the judgment was “factually incorrect” and also against the principles laid down by the Supreme Court Constitution bench judgments as regards classification of communities as Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, according to reports.
“We have to stay the order of the Manipur High Court. It is completely factually wrong and we gave time to Justice Muralidharan to remedy his error and he did not. We have to take a strong view against it now. It is clear if High Court judges do not follow constitution bench judgments then what should we do…it is very clear,” the CJI was quoted as remarking.
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According to reports, the Court did not impose any stay but noted that since an appeal has been filed before the division bench of the High Court against the judgment of the single-judge, aggrieved parties can present their case before the division bench.
The Court was hearing a slew of petitions seeking directions to the Central and State governments to ensure the safety of Manipuri Tribals after the High Court judgment led to violent clashes in the State.
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Notably, in March this year, Justice MV Muralidharan of the Manipur High Court had ordered the Manipur government to “consider inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously, preferably within a period four weeks” from the date of the order.
This led to clashes between tribal and non-tribal communities leading to loss of lives and damage to properties apart from large-scale arson.
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Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, told the apex court on Wednesday said that the High Court judgment was contrary to the Supreme Court’s judgments.
Earlier, Manipur government had informed the apex court that a writ appeal has been filed by the All Manipur Tribal Union against the judgment of Justice MV Muralidharan of March 27.
The Court noted that a division bench of the High Court had issued notice in that writ appeal and the same is slated to be heard on June 6.
The Court further noted that the Manipur government also moved an application before Justice Muralidharan to grant extension of time to implement the judgment and the judge has allowed such extension.
Pertinently, the Court also directed the government authorities to ensure that law and order is maintained.
Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar said that illegal immigrants are coming from Myanmar and they want to settle in Manipur.
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