NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will soon seek more powers by asking for a constitutional status in order to protect rights of minority communities more effectively.
If the NCM gets constitutional status, it will be able to act against errant officials who do not attend hearings, follow its order or are found guilty of dereliction of duty, said NCM chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi.
As of now, only the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes have constitutional status, giving them powers to act against officials.
“We are going to write to the government to give us constitutional status to deal with the problems. Officers don’t attend hearings, and we are not able to safeguard minorities the way we want. The panel should get rights like the commissions dealing with issues relating to SCs and STs,” Rizvi said, adding that he was also going to write to the chief secretaries of states next week to take action against officials who do not attend hearings.
At present, the NCM has powers to summon officials, including chief secretaries and director generals of police, but has to rely on departments concerned for action against erring officials.
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In March, a Parliamentary panel had recommended constitutional status for the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) without any delay, observing that the statutory body is almost ineffective to deal with cases of atrocities against minority communities.
While pushing for constitutional status for NCM, Rizvi said there was a high pendency of complaints before the Commission as officials often miss the hearings at NCM “as there is no fear among them for the Commission since it does not have constitutional status”.