Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
A paragraph from the Manipur High Court’s contentious March 27, 2023 judgement, which instructed the state administration to submit a recommendation regarding Scheduled Tribe classification for the Meitei tribe, has been removed. The ruling had resulted in widespread ethnic conflict in Manipur, as the indigenous Kuki population was against the court’s ruling.
Single-judge bench of Justice Golmei Gaiphulshillu stated that the petitioners’ misperception of fact and law prevented them from providing the court with the necessary assistance during the hearing of the aforementioned writ petition. He further stated that the decision was made with a misperception of the law.
Judge Gaiphulshillu pointed out that the order went against the ruling made by the Supreme Court in the case of State of Maharashtra v. Milind & Ors, wherein the high court stated that the ST list could not be changed, amended, or modified by courts. As a result, the High Court ruled in its ruling that the instruction provided in Paragraph 17(iii) be erased and should be deleted as such.
The now-deleted para in the judgment stated: “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 of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order in terms of the averments set out in the writ petition and in the line of the order passed in W.P.(C) No. 4281 of 2002 dated 26.05.2003 by the Gauhati High Court.”
Tribal organisations in Manipur were given permission by the High Court to initiate an appeal against the March 27 order in October of last year. All Manipur Tribal Union filed an appeal after this.
In an attempt to change its March 27 ruling, the Manipur High Court accepted a review petition on January 20 of this year. The state and federal governments were then notified and asked to respond.