The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the city government to conclude the process of removal of Zafarul Islam Khan, chairperson of Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) in accordance with law within two weeks.
A Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula said, “Respondents No.1 [Delhi government] and 2 [L-G] to conclude the process under Section 4(4)(f) of the Delhi Minorities Commission Act against respondent No.3- Mr. Zafarul Islam Khan in accordance with law within two weeks”.
The sections provide for removal of the DMC chairperson after giving him a proper hearing.
The High Court’s order came on a plea by a social worker, Vikram Gahlot, challenging the constitutionality of the DMC Act and seeking removal of Mr. Khan from the post of the chairperson.
Advocate Dhananjai Jain, who represented Mr. Gahlot, argued that despite the previous order of the High Court, no show-cause notice has been issued to Mr. Khan till date.
The L-G had in April written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal highlighting a social media post by Mr. Khan, the content of which prima facie appears to have the potential of disturbing communal harmony in the city.
“The matter is particularly serious considering that one of the functions of DMC is to take recommendations for ensuring, maintaining and promoting communal harmony in Delhi,” the Delhi government said in its report to the high court.
The L-G had then directed to the Administrative Department here to initiate action against Mr Khan.
Mr. Khan (72), who has been the DMC chief since July 2017,is also facing a sedition case over a tweet posted last month.
Mr. Khan had defended his social media post, saying it was on the plight of the minority population that had been targeted by certain elements in society, and further acknowledged the role of the international fraternity in raising concerns regarding the well-being of Indian Muslims.
He had said, “The social media post however only refers to ‘Hindutva bigots’, which is not a religious group or community, but instead refers in this context to persons on social media posting hate speech and propagating communal disharmony”.