The
Times of India reports today that a 2-judge panel of the Allahabad high court has upheld the constitutionality of India's
National Commission for Minorities Act. Rejecting claims that the Act discriminates on the basis of religion, the court said in part:
The commission cannot be regarded as a body which is constituted as an institution in aid of or for the protection of a religion but it is an institution which has been created by the Act of Parliament to ensure that minorities are able to realise their rights to development and freedom.