The Centre today came in for some searching questions from the Delhi High Court on implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations for welfare of Muslims when a Bench asked the government “is this meant to appease some community?... a lot of money is spent in a welfare state, is it that you (Centre) spend it only for one minority community?”

The Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P P Malhotra, was briefing a Bench of Justices T S Thakur and Siddharth Mridul on the “targeted intervention” intended by the Centre, including basic amenities and job opportunities for “90 identified minority concentration districts and opening of more branches by public sector banks in Muslim concentrated areas”.

Midway through the briefing, Justice Thakur, the senior judge on the Bench, interrupted the ASG with a query on the Centre’s actual intention behind setting up the Sachar panel.

“Is this meant to appease some community? If you intend to fight poverty, cut across religions and communities and fight. Never mind whether it is a Hindu poor or a Muslim poor,” said Justice Thakur.

“When you say in your Action Taken Report on the Sachar recommendations that ‘we will spend more for this minority community... does it mean that you will spend less for the major community?” he asked.

Reminding the ASG that “we live in a welfare state”, the Bench observed: “There are Sikhs, Muslims and Christians here... Why are you not doing it (welfare measures) for the majority community?”

Malhotra contended that Muslims were more in print in the report because they were “India’s biggest minority community” — a justification oft-repeated by the government counsel during the entire duration of the court hearing.

... contd.