Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh endorsing the National Council of Dalit Christians’ demand for reservations.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mayawati wrote: “I fully endorse the demand of the Council to amend para 3 of the Presidential Order, 1950, so as to give benefits to Scheduled Caste in Christians also.” Requesting the Prime Minister to “amend para 3 of Presidential Order suitably”, the letter also reminds that she had sent “a similar representation on August 2, 2005, to end this discrimination”.

The letter points out that this order was “amended in 1956 in favour of Sikh scheduled castes and subsequently in favour of Buddhist Scheduled Castes in 1990”.

The Supreme Court is also seized of a petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation challenging the constitutional validity of para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders, 1950, under which people belonging to the Scheduled Castes who converted to religions different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism were deprived of reservation benefits.

The apex court, which agreed to examine the question of providing reservation for Dalits even after their conversion to Christianity, remarked it as “a crucial issue” and even sought the views of Attorney-General Milon Banerjee on it. In his submissions, the A-G said he had written a letter in this regard and the Government had sent its reply. Though he had asked the Government to consider the issue sympathetically, he said it was “matter of policy and legislation and the Courts should keep out of it”.

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