NEW DELHI: Amid demand for including the legislative proposal for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the ninth schedule to insulate it from judicial scrutiny, the Lok Sabha on Monday passed the bill which seeks to undo the dilutions of provisions following the March 20 Supreme Court order.
The Bill proposes that the FIR could be registered on complaints of offences against the SCs/STs, while there would not be need for prior sanction for arrests of the government officials, besides the offences would be non-bailable.
The leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge, while supporting the legislative proposal, demanded that the bill be included in the ninth schedule of the Constitution. The BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar sought that the reservation norms be made mandatory in the contractual recruitment also.
Sonkar also exhorted the government to give legislative backing to the reservation for the SCs/STs, which is currently is in force through an administrative order.
Stating that since India embraced liberalisation in 1991 employment opportunities for the SCs/STs in government have been declining, Sonkar asked the government to accept the demand for reservation in contractual recruitment also.
The BJP MP also concurred with the demand of Kharge that all cases which were slapped against Dalit activists for taking part in the April 2 Bharat Bandh be withdrawn, besides releasing those who are languishing in jails.
While introducing the Bill, Union Minister Thavarchand Gehlot argued that the SC has nullified the scheduled castes and tribes prevention of atrocities act following the March 20 order.
“This Bill seeks to reinstate the provisions of the Act, besides 25 other offences under section 18A. The abuse of the law in the case of SC/ST Act is about 11 per cent, while for the same in cases of other IPC sections is about 7-8 per cent. This couldn’t have been the ground to dilute the provisions of the law for the protection of the vulnerable sections of the society,” he said.
NCBC Bill passed in Rajya Sabha
Parliament has passed a Bill to provide constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, as several members in the Rajya Sabha urged the government to make public the findings of the caste census and implement reservation accordingly.
The Upper House adopted the legislation along with the amendments made by the Lok Sabha, by 156 votes to nil. Over two-thirds majority of those present voted in favour of the Bill.