Centre’s reply sought on SC panel vacancies

New Delhi, January 8

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to respond to a PIL seeking directions for appointment of full-term chairman and vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde issued notices to the Centre, the state of Uttar Pradesh and others on a PIL filed by People’s Charioteer Organisation in October last year after the gangrape and subsequent death of a 19- year-old Dalit girl in Hathras.

The posts of the chairperson and the vice-chairperson and members in both NCSC and the NCST were vacant. In Uttar Pradesh, the chairperson’s posts were vacant, the petitioner NGO alleged.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were nearly 45,935 crimes against SCs in 2019, an increase of 7.3 per cent over 2018 (42,793 cases).Uttar Pradesh had recorded the highest number of crimes against SCs in 2019. — TNS