THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The job reservation proportionate to the population of the Scheduled Caste category people in the state is one per cent low and the government should take measures to correct it, recommended the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).
‘’At the national level, the job reservation for SCs is 9.1 per cent which is only 8 per cent in Kerala,’’ pointed out the Commission in its review meeting here on Thursday.
‘’The state also should ensure reservation for SCs in appointments in aided schools, of both teaching and non-teaching staff. Though a Supreme Court directive exists in this regard, it has not been followed in the state.
Special recruitment should be made to the 356 vacancies existing for the SCs in the government sector.
The condition of the student hostels meant for the communities is miserable and the Commission has received many complaints in this regard. The condition of the hostels should be improved and quality food should be provided to the inmates,’’ Commission chairman P L Punia said.
‘’A total of 244 complaints were received in the past five years regarding the use of fake community certificate for getting the benefits reserved for the SCs. But only seven of them were settled by the state. Action should be taken to settle these complaints.
Speedy trial should be ensured for settling the cases of atrocities towards the SC people. A total of 1388 cases were reported in 2012 and 1589 in 2013.
But trial was completed only in 1.71 per cent cases among them. The Commission also observed that the State Vigilance Committee with the Chief Minister as Chairman and the district vigilance committees with district collectors as chairman set up for the welfare for the SCs have not been convened at regular intervals,’’ Punia observed.
‘’The government should also take legal action for introducing reservation in private sector. The delay in issuing community certificates to the SCs should be sorted out as there have been complaints that it was causing hardships.
The Commission will seek the Union Government’s assistance for the upcoming Medical College for SCs in Palakkad,’’ the Commission said. Apart from the chairman, vice-chairman Raj Kumar Verka, members Raju Parmar and P M Kamalamma were in the team.
The Commission held a review on Wednesday also.