Community certificate delay: SHRC summons CS, revenue officials
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:07.02.2021
The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has summoned the TN chief secretary and revenue officials in Dindigul district to appear for inquiry on Tuesday (February 9), based on a petition by a former legislator about violations in issuing community certificates to tribal people. SHRC stated that if the officials fail to comply with the summons, final decision will be taken by the commission in their absence.
P Dilli Babu, the former MLA, also the president of Tamil Nadu Tribals Association, stated in his petition that despite directions from the Centre, the state and courts, revenue department officials bestowed with the responsibility of issuing community certificates have been making petitioners run from pillar to post. This in itself is a violation of their human rights, the petition stated.
In his petition, Babu cited instances of revenue officials in Dindigul, Tiruvallur, Aruppukottai refusing to issue Scheduled Tribe (ST) community certificates to people belonging to some of the tribes. He pointed out that the data submitted by the department of tribal welfare to SHRC, in response to an earlier petition, that there are 7.9 lakh tribals (1.10% of the state population) and 36 tribes, sub tribes in Tamil Nadu, is ten years old.
The department did not respond when asked about the tribes included under the ST category in recent years and did not mention the number of community certificates issued to them so far, Babu said. He further cited an earlier direction by the Supreme Court that held that if parents have a community certificate, the same can be issued to their children too, and questioned why the practice was not adopted in Tamil Nadu.
Further, in May 2018, the then chief secretary had advised the district collectors to finish backlog petitions on issuing community certificates, the petitioner pointed out and sought a remedy on the issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment