Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 11: The union government has outright rejected the state government's proposal to accord the status of separate religion to Lingayat community. It has said that it is impossible to approve the state's proposal on this issue. The stand of the union government was conveyed to the state high court by the additional solicitor general of the union government, Prabhuling Navadgi.

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The stand was made clear during the hearing into a public interest litigation which had questioned the decision of Karnataka State Minorities Commission to form a committee of experts to decide the religious status of Lingayat. This petition and certain other applications had together been placed before the division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, and Justice Sujata.

Prabhuling Navadgi submitted a letter dated November 13 addressed by the central government to the state to inform it that the state government's proposal to accord separate religion status to Lingayat cannot be accepted, in the form of a memo to the division bench.

"The first census held in India had grouped Lingayat under Hindus. Lingayat were treated as a religion group within Hindus. If the state's current proposal is accepted, the Lingayat-Veerashaivas who are already getting facilities under scheduled castes and tribes quotas will be deprived of them. Therefore, it is not possible to uphold this proposal," the letter has clarified.

The court, which recorded the said statement, disposed off the applications.