Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday, 13 April, nominated former IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lalpura as the Chairperson of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) for a period of 3 years from the date of assumption of office.
Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi was the Chairman of the commission previously.
Lalpura, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, belongs to the Sikh community.
He has authored dozens of books on the philosophy and history of Sikhs and has received several awards including Sikh Scholar Award, Police Medal for meritorious services, President's Police Medal, and Shiromani Sikh Sahitkar Award.
Atif Rasheed is the current vice-chairman of the Commission. According to NCM's website, five of its member posts are still vacant.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had sought an explanation regarding the vacant positions at NCM from the Union government after it found that six out of the seven posts of the commission were lying vacant since October 2021.
NCM was formed by the Union government under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. In the beginning, the government notified five religious communities – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) – as minority communities. Later, it added Jains to the list.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)