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The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central government to set up a fresh delimitation commission to ensure a proportional representation of the communities specified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), as mandated under the Constitution.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the Centre to set up the delimitation panel. However, the apex court said it cannot direct Parliament to amend or make laws for giving proper representation to other communities that form part of the STs as that would amount toventuring into the legislative domain. The direction of the top court came on a plea seeking a proportionate representation of the Limbu and Tamang tribal communities in the assemblies of Sikkim and West Bengal. The bench said, "We have made it clear that they (Centre) have to set up the delimitation commission." The apex court said, "In regard to the state of West Bengal, it has been submitted that... additional seats have to be made available in the State Assembly for the Scheduled Tribes in order to accommodate the principle of proportional representation." The apex court was hearing a plea moved by the Public Interest Committee for Scheduling Specific Areas (PICSSA), an NGO, which argued that the Limbu and Tamang communities, both belonging to the ST category, have been denied a proportionate representation in West Bengal and Sikkim. The NGO has claimed that there was a rise in the ST population in Sikkim and West Bengal and not reserving seats for them proportionate to the growth amounted to a denial of their constitutional rights. It has claimed that the population of the Limbu and Tamang communities in Sikkim was 20.6 per cent in 2001 and had risen to 33.8 per cent in 2011. In Darjeeling area of West Bengal, the ST population rose to 21.5 per cent in 2011 from 12.69 per cent in 2001, it added. The plea sought directions to the Centre, Election Commission and the two States to take steps for a proportional representation of the STs, as guaranteed under articles 330 (reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the House of People) and 332 (reservation of seats for SCs and STs in Legislative Assemblies of States) of the Constitution, to prevent a violation of Article 14 (equality before law). (ANI)
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