Par panel pulls up govt for withdrawing SC/ST, OBC Bill

Criticising the government for withdrawing the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class Bill 2004, a Parliamentary panel has asked it to come up with a fresh bill on the subject.

The committee on the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which submitted its report 'Situation arising out of the employment secured on the basis of false caste certificates' to Lok Sabha yesterday, has sought to know from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions the reasons for the withdrawal of the bill.

"The committee has urged the government to withdraw the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill 2008, which replaced the earlier 2004 Bill and passed in Rajya Sabha in December 2008 without discussion, keeping in view the anti-reservation provisions incorporated therein.

"The committee has recommended that the government should come forward with a fresh bill on the subject after consulting the committee, National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Commission for STs."

In another observation regarding evolving a mechanism to monitor the extent of benefits reaching the SC/ST population, it said, "The ministry being the nodal ministry, should not limit its responsibility only up to formulation of reservation policy at the Central level.

"But it should obtain information on the progress made in the implementation of reservation policy in states in order to get a reality check in the matter throughout the country."

The panel has also recommended the ministry to instruct all government offices to bridge the time gap between the occurrence of vacancies and filling them up by forward planning so that all the vacancies are filled up as soon as they became due.

Further, the committee has said while undertaking special recruitment drives, it should be strictly ensured that only genuine SC and ST candidates are recruited.