HC issues notices to government over ST Commission constitution

The Telangana High Court issued notices to the State and the Central governments in a PIL petition seeking constitution of the Commission for the Scheduled Tribes.

The Telangana High Court on Friday issued notices to the State and the Central governments in a PIL petition seeking constitution of the Commission for the Scheduled Tribes.

The plea was filed by Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi Nangara Bheri represented by its general secretary Bhukya Deva Naik seeking constitution of a the Commission for STs. The petitioner contended that the Commission should have been constituted by virtue of State Commission for ST Amendment Bill-2013 and under Article 338 A9 of the Constitution of India.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji issued notices to the Union of India and State government observing that separate Commission for the ST was not formed despite there being a sizeable population of Scheduled Tribes in the State.

In a separate matter, the Bench instructed the State government to ensure adequate infrastructure was created and sufficient staff members were appointed to the Police Complaint Authority in the districts and the State Security Commission.

The direction was passed by the Bench after hearing a PIL petition filed by Forum for Good Governance stating that government had not provided the required infrastructure to the PCAs in the districts. Even adequate staff members were not appointed. As a result, citizens were approaching the courts for redressal of their grievances against police officials. The Bench directed the government to take remedial steps within three months on the issues raised by the FGG.

Former Indian skipper Mohammed Azaruddin on Friday appeared before the court of Justice T. Vinod Kumar in a contempt of court case filed by Nalgonda District Cricket Association. The judge earlier heard the case filed by NDCA in April and directed Mr. Azaruddin to appear before the court. The petitioner contended that HCA led by Azaruddin did not allow its teams to participate in the league matches despite a specific direction from the HC. The matter was adjourned.