The three-member committee set up by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) categorically refused to consider a plea to declare Hindus as a minority community in eight states in the country. The writ petition was filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, a Supreme Court advocate and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A report by the NCM sub-committee, whose members are George Kurian, Atif Rasheed and Manjit Singh Rai, stated that National Minority Commission does not have the jurisdiction to declare new minority communities and “the powers to declare a community as 'a minority community' is vested with the Central government.

The sub-committee had stated that “the definition of 'minority' in the relevant Act which is Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 clearly states that a community is listed as 'minority' as notified as such by the Central Government. In the report, the sub-committee stated that petition of Upadhyay to the National Commission for Minorities are misplaced.

Upadhyay had approached the NCM to consider his plea after the Supreme Court in 2017, while hearing his writ petition had stated that NCM should be asked to consider the representation and pass appropriate orders. Upadhyay had alleged that he had submitted a representation to NCM and on not getting any response, had filed the present Writ Petition again in 2019.