NDMA members resign, NCW, NCPCR chiefs asked to go

The vice chairman and members of the disaster management panel resigned Thursday after the central government asked them to while the chiefs of the national women's panel and child rights panel have also been asked to quit, said informed sources.

The resignation of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy and at least five other members was confirmed by an official of the authority.

There are seven members in the NDMA including the vice chairman.

Reddy, a Congress leader from Telangana, was appointed as the NDMA vice-chairman when the body was formed in 2005. He was re-appointed to the post in 2010 for another five years.

The NDMA is headed by the prime minister. The NDMA vice chairman enjoys the rank of a cabinet minister while other members enjoy the rank of minister of state.

Sources in National Commission for Women (NCW) also said chairperson Mamta Sharma has been asked to resign.

She, however, is currently on a personal holiday abroad and was unavailable for comment.

Similarly, Kushal Singh, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was also asked to quit, sources in the commission said, adding that she has refused to oblige and has said that she would complete her full term which ends October 2014.

Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes Commission chairman P.L. Punia, meanwhile, said he has not been asked to leave.

"No one asked me to leave the position," Punia said.

"I have been appointed (as SC/ST commission chief) by the president, if the president orders me to leave, I would comply. This is a constitutional post and unless I complete my tenure, no one can remove me," he said.

Punia was reappointed as the SC/ST panel chief for three years in October 2013.

Meanwhile, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) president Karan Singh told IANS: "I have not heard anything from the government."

A member of the Rajya Sabha, he is currently in Srinagar and will be back in Delhi June 21.

He is the longest serving president of ICCR and will be completing his third term in August.

All these appointments were made by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during its 10-year tenure.

The development comes after the central government sent messages to several UPA appointed governors to resign.