The Union government on Monday told the Karnataka High Court that it has rejected the recommendation of the State government to grant religious minority status to Lingayat and Veerashaiva community.
The Union government, in its November 23, 2018 letter written to the State government, has reiterated the earlier stand of the Centre that Lingayat/Veerashaiva community is part of Hindu religion.
A memo in this regard has been filed before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and S. Sujatha during the hearing on the petitions, which had questioned the process initiated by the State to grant religious minority status to the community during December 2017.
Subsequently the High Court had put a rider stating that the process initiated by the State would be subject to the outcome of the petitions. Later the Karnataka State Minorities Commission constitutes a seven-member panel to look into the demand for minority status and the committee recommended in favour of the demand.
Following this, the State government in March this year wrote to the Union government recommending the grant of minority status.