Andhra Pradesh reconstitutes minority commission

After a gap of four years, Andhra Pradesh has reconstituted the state's minority commission, officials said here Thursday.

Ruling Congress party leader Abdi Rasool Khan will be the new chairman of the commission which was reconstituted by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Thursday following the recent orders of the state high court. Subhash Chandra Bose will be the vice-chairman of the panel, officials said.

Rasool Khan, who is the general secretary of the state unit of Congress party, said he would try to fulfill the new responsibility entrusted to him by taking all necessary steps for the development of minorities in the state.

The chief minister also named five others as the members of the commission. The high court in January had directed the state government to reconstitute the commission and report the progress to the court in six months.

The court had passed the orders while dealing with a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer who had termed as illegal and unconstitutional, the delay in reconstituting the panel.

The petitioner had told the court that the previous commission was formed in 2006 but after the lapse of its three year tenure in 2009, the government made no effort for its reconstitution.