The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed strong displeasure against the March 27 order of the Manipur High Court, which suggested the state government to consider including the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list.
Terming the High Court order as ‘factually incorrect,’ the Apex Court observed that the verdict was also against the principles laid down by the Supreme Court Constitution Bench judgments as regards classification of communities as Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.
The High Court order had triggered violent clashes between tribal and non-tribal communities in Manipur, leading to the death of around 71 people.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala observed that it gave time to Justice Muralidharan to correct his mistake, but he did not.
The top court of the country said that it would take a ‘strong view’ on the matter now, noting that in case the High Court judges did not follow the Constitution Bench judgments, the Apex Court knew what to do.
However, it did not stay the impugned order on the grounds that an appeal has been filed before the Division Bench of the High Court against the same.
The State of Manipur apprised the Supreme Court that a writ appeal has been filed by All Manipur Tribal Union against the High Court verdict.
The Apex Court further took note of the fact that the Division Bench had issued notice in the writ appeal and the same was slated to be heard on June 6.
The Bench also took in view the fact that Manipur government had sought extension of time to implement the judgment, which was granted by the Single-Judge Bench of Justice Muralidhar.
It granted liberty to the aggrieved parties to make submissions before the Division Bench, while granting liberty to the parties aggrieved by the writ appeal order to move the Apex Court.
The Bench further directed the government authorities to ensure that law and order was maintained, while ordering the state government to apprise the Court of the steps taken for the same.
The Bench passed the orders on a batch of petitions seeking directions to both the Centre and state government to ensure the safety of Manipuri Tribals after the High Court judgment led to violent clashes in the state.
Representing the petitioner, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves apprised the Apex Court that the High Court verdict was contrary to the Supreme Court judgments.
Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar said that illegal immigrants were coming from Myanmar and they wanted to settle in Manipur. He alleged that the illegal immigrants were involved in poppy cultivation and this was the reason for the increase in militant camps there.
Advocate Nizam Pasha argued that the official Twitter handle of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh was putting out provocative tweets. He alleged that the Chief Minister was speaking about Kuki foreigners and that Manipur was destroyed in the name of Christianity.
While making it clear that the Court would not enter into the political arena, the Bench asked Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta to ensure that Constitutional authorities were acting with restraint and refrain from making such statements.
The SG contended that illegal immigrants coming from Myanmar was a real issue and the state was alive to this fact.
On March 27 this year, the Single-Judge Bench of Justice M.V. Muralidharan of the High Court had directed the government of Manipur to consider including the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, ‘preferably’ within a period of four weeks from the date of the order. The verdict sparked off violent clashes between tribal and non-tribal communities in the state.