The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed serious concern over what it described as a “new type of fraud” involving two upper-caste candidates in Haryana allegedly converting to Buddhism to claim minority reservation benefits.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Hisar resident Nikhil Kumar Punia, who sought admission to a postgraduate medical course as a minority candidate on the basis of his claimed Buddhist faith, news agency PTI reported.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice questioned Punia’s social background, asking, “You are a Punia? What minority are you? Let me ask this bluntly now. Which Punia are you?”
When the petitioner’s counsel replied that Punia belonged
to the Jat Punia community, the bench asked how he could claim minority status.
The counsel responded that the petitioner had converted to Buddhism and that conversion was his constitutional right. Reacting sharply, the CJI remarked, “Wow! This is a new type of fraud,” and cautioned against attempts to “snatch the rights of genuine minorities”.
The top court further noted that the petitioners had earlier appeared for NEET-PG as general category candidates and had declared that they did not belong to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). It questioned how minority certificates could be issued in such circumstances.
The bench also asked the Haryana chief secretary to place on record the guidelines governing the issuance of minority certificates and to clarify whether candidates from the upper-caste general category can claim minority status by citing religious conversion.
“Let the chief secretary of Haryana inform: What are the guidelines for issuing a minority certificate? Is it permissible for an upper-class general category candidate, who is not covered under the Economically Weaker Sections and who had declared themselves as ‘general’ in a previous application, to subsequently declare themselves as belonging to the Buddhist minority?” the bench ordered.
While dismissing the plea for admission, the Supreme Court said the matter required deeper scrutiny and kept the broader issue of procedures for granting minority certificates open for further consideration after the state government submits its response.
(With inputs from agencies)
