The Supreme Court's observation that it is a settled position in law that religious and linguistic minority status is to be decided statewise may be legally contested down the line. The Centre says it has the power to notify minorities but is mum over the fact whether the States shall be taken into confidence and their concurrence obtained. Under the National Minorities Commission Act, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains have been notified nationally as minority communities but in a few states in the North and North East some of these sects constitute the majority. Not every community classified as OBC, SC or ST in one State may be recognized as such in another state; should centrally identified minorities lose their status in States where they are in a majority ? It is to be understood that even implentation of minority status at a more granular State level won't help much, these extremely sensitive issues need to be thought through with all stakeholders on board and microscopically examined before finalization else they would morph into another flashpoint in Centre-State relations which in the present context are already supervolatile.
