SHILLONG, SEPT 18: In a major relieve to Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petition challenging his Scheduled Tribe..
A division bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit dismissed the petition filed by Tennydard M. Marak, a former Congress leader from Meghalaya, and the All Northeast Indigenous Garo Law Promoters’ Association (ANEIGLPA) questioning the ST status of the chief minister.
Ranjan Mukherjee, counsel for the Meghalaya government, told reporters over phone from New Delhi “The Supreme Court dismissed the petition challenging the tribal status of Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma leaving the petitioner with the liberty to work out his alternative remedy to take up the matter with any other forum.”.
Marak had filed a writ petition alleging that Sangma fraudulently obtained the Scheduled Tribe certificate by “misrepresentation and suppressing the material facts”.
The ANEIGLPA alleged that Mukul Sangma does not belong to the Sangma clan and that he used his surname only to obtain a Scheduled Tribe certificate.
On October 7, 2013, the Meghalaya high court had also dismissed as “non-maintainable” a public interest litigation challenging the Scheduled Tribe status of Sangma.
The Manda clan, to which Sangma belongs, had come out in Sangma’s defence.- By Our Reporter
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