Two-Day Bandh, and Emergency Session in Sikkim Over SC’s Remark on Nepalis

GG News Bureau

Guwahati, 4th Feb. After days of demonstrations across Sikkim, the state government has petitioned the Supreme Court to rectify the court’s observation that Sikkimese Nepalis were people of foreign origin. The protesters had set a seven-day deadline for the state government to act.

Pawan Kumar Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), the main opposition party, has called for a 48-hour bandh beginning today. Prem Singh Tamang, the Chief Minister, has also called for an emergency session of the Assembly on February 9.

Apart from the Lepchas and Bhutias, Nepalis are the majority community in Sikkim.

On January 13, while ruling on a petition filed by the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS) seeking income tax exemption for old settlers who had settled in Sikkim prior to its merger with India on April 26, 1975, the Supreme Court stated that Sikkimese Nepalis were people of foreign origin. The Supreme Court also exempted old Indian settlers from paying income tax.

In its judgement, the Supreme Court held that the benefit of tax exemption provided in Section 10 (26AAA) of Income Tax Act 1961 shall be extended to all Indian citizens domiciled in Sikkim on or before the merger date of April 26, 1975.

The top court added that under the Sikkim Income Tax Manual, 1948, “all persons engaged in business were subjected to tax irrespective of their origin. Therefore, there was no difference made out between the original inhabitants of Sikkim, namely, the Bhutia-Lepchas, and the persons of foreign origin settled in Sikkim like the Nepalis, or persons of Indian origin who had settled down in Sikkim generations back.”

The petitioners had argued that migrants from other countries or erstwhile kingdoms like “Nepalese migrants”, who “migrated to and settled in Sikkim at the same time or even after migrants/settlers of Indian origin”, were benefiting from Section 10(26AAA) of the IT Act, 1961, “while arbitrarily excluding settlers of Indian origin such as the petitioners herein”.

Mani Kumar Sharma, the state’s health minister, resigned on February 2 in protest of the government’s failure to respond to the court’s observation.

Sharma stated in a letter to the Chief Minister that the ” state government has not taken the sentiments of Sikkimese people seriously”.

“I feel it is not necessary to remain in the state cabinet further,” he said.

Sudesh Joshi, the Additional Advocate General, also resigned after allegations of failing to adequately brief the Supreme Court on the distinction between the Sikkimese Nepali population and other old settlers, which led to the observation. Joshi denied the charges.