Allahabad: Uttar Pradesh Advocate-General S.M.A. Kazmi, challenging a single judge's judgment denying minority status to Muslims in the State, on Friday submitted that a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court had already stayed proceedings before the judge on a similar petition after a special leave petition was filed, raising questions what should be the criteria for the minority status for Muslims.

``As such,'' Mr. Kazmi submitted, ``the single judge Bench should not have passed the judgment on one petition while the proceedings were stayed on the other on the ground that the issue of minority did not arise out of that petition.''

The Division Bench comprising Justice S.R. Alam and Justice Krishna Murari, while staying the single judge's order, said the special leave applications of the State with regard to both petitions would be taken up for hearing simultaneously.

Justice S.N. Srivastava on Thursday passed only the operative portion of his judgment saying he was doing so as he was scheduled to sit in the Lucknow Bench from April 9. The rest of the judgment would follow.

Applying the "twin criteria" of population and strength of a religious minority and relying on the census reports of 1951 and 2001, he ruled that Muslims in U. P. could no longer be treated as a religious minority.

He directed the State Government to treat Muslims on a par with the non-minority communities without discrimination in accordance with law. — PTI

In New Delhi, the National Commission for Minorities termed the court stay on the judgment ``positive'' and observed that the U.P. Government had done the needful in filing the review petition.

``The very fact that the order was stayed within 24 hours shows how untenable it was,'' NCM chairperson M. Hamid Ansari said.

Special Correspondent reports from Lucknow:

"Against SC ruling"

Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament and former Advocate-General Virendra Bhatia told journalists that Thursday's order was against the Supreme Court ruling in the T.M.A Pai Foundation versus the State of Karnataka case in 2002 and the P.A. Inamdar case in 2005.

Mr. Bhatia said that reading only the operative part of his judgment was against judicial propriety. He said the Muslim minority was not a fact at issue and relief had not been sought on this.

"Wrong judgment"

Welcoming the stay granted by the Allahabad High Court, Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal described Thursday's order of the single judge as "historic" and absolutely wrong judgment.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Sibal said he was surprised that the judgment was delivered at 4 p.m. on Thursday with Friday being a holiday on account of Good Friday and the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Saturday.

He said the order was against the apex court verdict in the T.M.A. Pai case and the P.A. Inamdar case that for determining the minority, the unit would be the State and not the whole of India.

He said that as per the apex court's verdict, the operative part of the judgment could not be made without assigning reasons.

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