RTI expose: SC/ST Vigilance Committee met only thrice in 23 yrs

Kathir, Executive Director, Evidence, an NGO based in Chennai, working for the welfare of downtrodden, said, “The Vigilance and Monitoring Committee under SC/ST Act is supposed to meet once in six months but the RTI documents say that the committee met only thrice since it was constituted in 1995. Till 2018, at least 46 meetings should have been conducted.”

After the Scheduled Castes/Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was passed in 1989, the rules to implement the Act were passed in 1995 and according to the rules, a 25-member Committee headed by the Chief Minister was formed.

Speaking to DTNext, Kathir added, “The Committee is supposed to work out ways to prevent atrocities committed against Dalits and Tribes, but the panel, instead of functioning as per the rules, has only discussed steps that have been taken in certain cases and details of pending cases.”

He also said that the first meeting was held on November 11, 2010, headed by the Deputy Chief Minister and was followed byanother meeting on June 6, 2012, headed by the State Law Minister. Only the third meeting held on June 25, 2013, was headed by the Chief Minister. Referring to the meetings, Kathir said though all meetings are supposed to be presided over by the Chief Minister, he did so only in the third meeting. “After 2013, no meeting was conducted by the committee which shows the lacklustre attitude of the State government in dealing with cases related to marginalised communities of society,” said Kathir.