No record of office expenses for Justice Rohini Commission since Sept. 2021

The government has no records of office expenditure incurred for the Justice G. Rohini Commission for the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) since September 2021, according to replies to Right to Information requests filed by The Hindu. 

The government has no records of office expenditure incurred for the Justice G. Rohini Commission for the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) since September 2021, according to replies to Right to Information requests filed by The Hindu. 

The Commission was formed in 2017 to sub-categorise the nearly 3,000 OBC caste groups and recommend a quota break-up among them. It was initially given 12 weeks to submit a report in this regard but has so far received 14 extensions - the latest one in January this year. 

The panel is headed by former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice G. Rohini (retd.) and consists of Dr. J.K. Bajaj of the Centre for Policy Studies as a Member. In addition to this, a Director of the Anthropological Survey of India and the Registrar General of India are ex-officio members while a Joint Secretary of the Social Justice Ministry is the Secretary to the Commission. 

Expenditure records accessed under the Right to Information Act, 2005 showed that ₹3,75,53,250 was spent on salaries and allowances for the Chairperson and Member and ₹26,04,775 was spent on salaries for consultants from October 2017 to April 2023. 

While the government said it spent ₹7,20,000 on “office expenditure and others” for the panel between October 2017 and August 2021, it said that it has no records of office expenditure after that period. 

The expenditure for the Commission was being taken care of by the National Commission for Backward Classes from October 2017 to August 2021. Following this, the expenditure for the Commission started coming directly from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE). 

In response to specific queries about office expenditure incurred by the Commission after August 2021, the MoSJE said, “The information may be treated as nil”, adding this was because it was not maintained with the concerned information officer.