Lack of monitoring committee meetings as per SC/ST Act causes undue delay in justice redressal mechanism, says activist

An activist urged the Tamil Nadu government to adhere to the rules mandated the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for constituting the State-level and district-level monitoring committee meetings. 

According to the 1989 Act, meetings at State and district-level should be constituted two and four times respectively to ensure proper action initiated against the accused booked under the Act and to ensure the proper functioning of the redressal mechanisms of the victims. 

But, in Tamil Nadu, no State-level meetings were constituted till now, which reflects the State’s seriousness towards ensuring just and speedy justice to the victims subjected to caste-related violence, said S. Karuppaiah of Dalit Liberation Movement. 

As per the rules set out by the Act defined that every State should constitute two State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meetings, four District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meetings headed by the Collector to review the progress of cases and compensations, state of the victims and four Divisional Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meetings headed by Revenue Divisional Officials (RDO), he noted.  

Due to the irregularity in conducting meetings, progress in most of the cases was not reviewed, which had caused undue delay in ₹ 35.24 crore reaching the victims of 1,151 cases, Mr. Karuppaiah noted. 

Also, 1,117 affected families under the Act were not given compensation like pension, housing, agricultural land, free education and out of 240 affected families only 104 families were given government jobs, he added.

Only by regularly reviewing the progress of cases registered under SC/ST Act, justice would be ensured to the victims who were affected by the incidents, he stated.

Published - November 19, 2024 08:23 pm IST