Fill up vacancies in National Commissions for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes: Plea in Supreme Court

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions for the appointment of key members to the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and Scheduled Tribes (NCST)..The plea filed by the People's Charioteer Organization (PCO) through Advocates Rajesh Inamdar, Shashwat Anand, Amit Pai, Faiz Ahmad and Sarveshvari Prasad, states that these Commissions have failed to provide any relief in matters relating to SCs and STs of India owing to the number of vacancies therein..PCO seeks directions to the Central government to appoint a full-term Chairman, a Vice-Chairperson and other members of the NCSC under Article 338 of the Constitution and the same appointments for the NCST under Article 338A of the Constitution. The plea states,."Owing to the glaring vacancies non-appointment of the Chairmen/Chairpersons and key high-officers, these Commissions have failed to provide any relief in matters relating to the SCs and STs of India. Also, they have miserably failed in their duty of publishing their Annual Reports on the developments and working of the safeguards put in place, as to the SCs and STs of India."Plea filed in Supreme Court.The petition also prays for directions to the respective Commissions to publish the Annual Report of the NCSC, which has not been published since October 201 , and the Annual Report of the NCST, which has not been published for the years 2018-19 and 2019-20 as of yet.."Little or no interest is being shown by the Commissions in publishing their Annual Reports, as more than 3 years have passed since the NCSC published its last Annual Report and the NCST is publishing reports of 2017-18 in the year 2020 which hyet. The Twelfth Annual Report of the NCST for the year 2016-17, also hasn’t been laid in the Parliament as of yet haven’t been laid in the Parliament as of yet", states the plea..The petitioners have also prayed for directions to the State of Uttar Pradesh to appoint the Chairman of the UP Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, under the relevant legislation.The plea avers that members need to be appointed to the bodies, as in case the office of the Chairperson becomes vacant, the duties of the Chairperson will be discharged by the Vice-Chairperson. Similarly, if the office of the Vice-Chairperson falls vacant, the members can discharge such functions.