The petition maintained that the tribal status of Meetei/Meitei existed before 21.9.1949 (before signing of the Merger Agreement) as part of the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement of Manipur into the Indian Union
TFM Desk
The High Court of Manipur on Wednesday directed the state government to submit its recommendation for the inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the Scheduled Tribe list to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and to consider the case within four weeks.
The HC’s directive came following a writ petition filed by eight petitioners. The writ petition sought issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the state government to submit recommendations in reply to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ May 2013 letter within two months or within a time frame and to include Meetei/Meitei community in the Schedule Tribe list of Indian Constitution as a “tribe among tribes of Manipur”.
The petition maintained that the tribal status of Meetei/Meitei existed before 21.9.1949 (before signing of the Merger Agreement) as part of the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement of Manipur into the Indian Union. It also sought the HC’s direction to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to restore the Scheduled Tribe status of Meetei/Meitei community.
The petitioners placed on record various documentary references, which are annexed with the writ petition. The counsel for the petitioners submitted that during the preparation of Scheduled Tribe lists of India under Article 342 of the Constitution of India, the Meetei/Meitei community are left out. However, there is documentary evidence showing the earlier Meetei/Meitei community also belonged to the tribe community, said the petition.
On April 18, 2022, the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union submitted a representation to the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs with a copy to 12 authorities, including the chief secretary, government of Manipur seeking inclusion of Meetei/Meitei Tribe of Manipur in the list of Scheduled Tribe under Indian Constitution.
On May 31, 2022, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs forwarded the representation to the secretary, government of Manipur to submit recommendation. But the recommendation has not been submitted and the issue of inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list of the Constitution has been pending for nearly ten years, said the petition.
“No satisfactory explanation is forthcoming from the side of the respondent state for not submitting the recommendation for the last 10 years”, stated the HC. It would be appropriate to direct the respondent state to submit its recommendation to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs within a reasonable time.
Notably, the inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community of Manipur in the ST list is one of the long-standing demands of several civil society organisations in the state.
However, many tribal-based CSOs, particularly student bodies like ATSUM, ANSAM and KSO had raised strong objections to the demand of the inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in ST list.
Meanwhile, reacting to the court order, All Tribal Student Union Manipur decided to discuss the matter minutely as a legal process is involved in the issue.