National Commission for Minorities awaiting appointment of Chairperson, members

The Hindu

5 hours ago

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM), set up with the vision to safeguard and protect the interests of minority communities in India, is awaiting the appointment of a head, and members since the retirement in April 2025 of its previous Chairperson and member, Iqbal Singh Lalpura.
Five members of the Commission, including the Chairperson, have retired since December 2024, with no new appointments made so far.
The NCM, which works under the Ministry of Minority Affairs and has quasi-judicial powers, should have seven members, including the Chairperson, and the Vice-Chairperson. The National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992 mandates the appointment of one member from each of the six minority communities — Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, and Jain.
This is not the first time that there has been a delay in filling vacancies at the NCM. In 2017, the Commission remain without a Chairperson and several members for months. In 2021, the Delhi High Court asked the Central government to fill up vacant posts in the NCM.
'I never fully subscribed the utility of these bodies,' former NCM Chairperson Tahir Mahmood, who authored Minorities Commission (1978-2015): Minor Role in Major Affairs after his tenure ended in 1999, told The Hindu.
The condition of Muslims and Christians remained as it had been before the establishment of the Commission, he said in the book, terming the NCM a 'showpiece'; a 'stopgap placement for faithful politicians'; and a 'post retirement centre for committed bureaucrats'.
Positions in the Commission have since long been occupied by people with connections to ruling parties, a former NCM member, who did not wish to be named, said.
'The last NCM Chairperson was Iqbal Singh Lalpura, who contested the Punjab Assembly election on a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) ticket. Prior to that, the post was held by BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was also the Minister of Minority Affairs,' the former member said.
Mr. Naqvi declined to comment on the delay in appointments, and said the NCM continued to function even in the absence of a Chairperson and some members. 'Obviously, when there is a Chairperson, and there are members, the efficiency gets enhanced,' Mr. Naqvi said.
The positions in the NCM should be filled soon, Mr. Lalpura said, questioning the tenure of the Congress government at the Centre, which, according to him, had declared the NCM Chairperson's post 'void' by selecting a Prime Minister from the minority community (the late Dr. Manmohan Singh).
The delayed appointments at the NCM have impacted the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), a quasi-judicial body that aims to safeguard the educational rights of minorities. The NCMEI is also an advisory body to the Union government on minority educational institutions.
The NCMEI, which works under the Ministry of Education, should have three members, and a Chairperson of at least the rank of a retired judge from a High Court. The NCMEI has been functioning with a single working member, Sahid Akhtar, for about two years after its previous Chairperson, Justice (Retd.) Narender Kumar Jain completed his tenure in September 2023.
Justice (Retd.) M.S.A. Siddiqui expressed displeasure over the long-pending vacancies at a Commission of national importance. Political leaders should question the delays in filling the posts in Parliament, he said.
The BJP government had shown its disregard for human rights and minority rights organisations, including the NCM and the NCMEI, since 2014, John Dayal, a human rights activist and former member of the National Integration Council, said.
'Although the NCM and NCMEI are not statutory bodies on the lines of the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, it is expected that they function at the national level, with counterparts in every State. Many States do not have a State Minority Commission even now, so many decades after the Parliament passed the National Commission of Minorities Act,' Mr. Dayal said.
The two Commissions (NCM and NCMEI) now exist in name only, and are managed by secretarial staff, he said.
'The long delay in appointing a new Commission with a Chairperson and members clearly shows that the welfare of religious minorities is not high on the list of priorities of the government,' Mr. Dayal said, adding that the absence of these Commissions is gravely felt at a time when hate speech and hate crime are at their peak, as assiduously documented by Christian and Muslim human rights groups.
Responses from both the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Union Ministry of Education, are awaited.