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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

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CASE NO.:

Appeal (civil) 4730 of 1999

PETITIONER:

Bal Patil & Anr.

RESPONDENT:

Union of India & Ors.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 08/08/2005

BENCH:

Chief Justice of India,D. M. Dharmadhikari & P. K. Balasubramanyan

JUDGMENT:

J U D G M E N T

Dharmadhikari J.

The appellant is an organization representing a section of Jain

community. It approached by writ petition the High Court of Bombay

seeking issuance of a mandamus/direction to the Central Government

to notify ’Jains’ as a ’minority’ community under section 2(c) of the

National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 (shortly referred to as

the Act).

Section 2(c) of the Act defines minority thus :-

"Minority, for the purposes of this Act, means a community notified

as such by the Central Government;"

The High Court of Bombay by the impugned order simply

disposed off the petition on the ground that the claim of varous

communities to the status of ’minority’ for purpose of seeking

constitutional protections is one of the main issues pending before a

bench of eleven judges of this court in