ST status for Meiteis: HC notice to Centre, State on review petition filed by Meitei body

The Manipur High Court on June 19 admitted a review petition seeking to modify its contentious March 27 order, which had directed the State government to recommend the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. The court issued notices on the petition to the Union government and the State government on Monday, seeking their response by the next date of hearing. 

The Manipur High Court on June 19 admitted a review petition seeking to modify its contentious March 27 order, which had directed the State government to recommend the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. The court issued notices on the petition to the Union government and the State government on Monday, seeking their response by the next date of hearing. 

Manipur has been seeing continuous ethnic violence between the dominant valley-based Meitei people and the ST hill-based Kuki-Zomi people since May 3, when violence started shortly after a tribal protest against the contentious March 27 order. Over 100 have been killed so far, hundreds more injured and tens of thousands internally displaced. 

The review petition filed by the Meitei Tribes Union (MTU) was admitted for hearing by a Bench of Acting Chief Justice M.V. Muralidharan, who had also authored the March 27 order, which was passed on an initial Writ Petition filed by the MTU.  

In the order, Justice Muralidharan had directed the Manipur government to reply to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry on a file related to the request for the Meiteis’ inclusion on the ST list. The high court had noted that a request for Meiteis’ inclusion had originated from the Manipur government over 10 years ago. 

While the Centre sought more information on the proposal in 2013, the Manipur government never acted on this letter, the high court noted before directing it to respond to the Union government. 

However, in addition to this direction, the HC had also said, “The first respondent shall consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously, preferably within a period four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order…”

“It is this part of the order that we have sought a modification of. There is a Supreme Court judgement that says that inclusion or exclusion of any community is the prerogative of the Parliament and the President. So this direction does not comply with that,” advocate Ajoy Pebam, one of the lawyers for the MTU told The Hindu.