Gangtok, Apr 12 The Sikkim High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the restrictions on property rights and issuance of Certificate of Identification (COI) to children of Sikkimese women married to men from outside the state.
Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai last week dismissed a writ petition challenging the state government notification issued in 2018 which barred the children of Sikkimese women married to non-Sikkimese men from inheriting maternal property or receiving COI.
The petitioners, Pushpa Mishra and more than 100 other women, had also prayed to the Sikkim HC to issue directions to the state government to allow their children eligibility for COI, access to government employment opportunities, and inheritance rights over immovable property.
The petitioners claimed that the restrictions violated the constitutional guarantees of equality and protection under Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 and 21.
Justice Rai, however, rejected all the contentions from the petitioners and ruled that Sikkim's special constitutional position under Article 371F continues to safeguard all pre-merger laws applicable to the state.
"All the legal provisions in force prior to Sikkim's merger with India in 1975 remain protected and enforceable," she observed.
Referring to the Sikkim Subject Regulation, 1961, the judge said that a Sikkimese woman does not retain the same Sikkim subject status after marrying a non-Sikkimese man in matters related to the rights of her children, including eligibility for COI.
On the issue of gender discrimination, Justice Rai said that while equality remains a fundamental right, reasonable classification based on historical and legal factors is permissible, and the distinction between Sikkim subjects and non-Sikkimese persons does not violate constitutional provisions.
The judge, however, said that although children from such marriages are not eligible for COI under the present framework, they can obtain Residential Certificates (RC), which allow access to education and certain state-level benefits, including limited property-related entitlements.
Observing that the issues arising out of the state government notification of 2018 fall in the domain of the policymakers and not that of the judiciary, the court dismissed the petition saying that any change in the existing system must come through legislative process.
