Thestate government will constitute separate commissions for Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes soon. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy informed Unionminister of state for social justice and empowerment P Balram Naik of thegovernment’s decision at a review meeting held here on Monday.
The postof the chairman of the present SC and ST Commission has been vacant for severalyears. When Naik pointed it out at a state-level high-power vigilance andmonitoring committee meeting on the Prevention of Atrocities on SCs/STs Act atthe Secretariat, the chief minister said the state was planning to form twoseparate commissions for SCs and STs and then appoint two chairmen. TheUnion minister welcomed the decision.
FALSE CASES: When officials saidthat around 25 per cent of the cases of atrocities on SC and STs were false,the CM directed the DGP to look into the matter. “Because of some socialpressures false cases were registered,” an official said after the meeting.
Withthe number of false cases rising alarmingly, the police department has beenasked to depute an SP-rank officer to inquire into the veracity of the cases. Hithertoa DSP-rank officer has been entrusted with the task of inquiring into suchcases. As of now, 5,956 atrocity cases under the SC/ST Act are pending inthe state. Of those, 1,076 cases were filed last year. Most of thecases related to land disputes, abuse in the name of caste and outrage ofmodesty. But only in 116 cases were the accused convicted.