Concerns have been raised over meetings of district-level vigilance and monitoring committee, functioning under the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, not being convened for nearly a year.
Activists allege that while the committee for monitoring cases filed under SC / ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act last met in November 2015, meetings of other two committees for bonded labour and Adi Dravidar welfare had not met for more than a year.
“The committee to monitor the SC / ST Act cases, in particular, is important as one of its activities is to review cases which are to be closed by the police as mistake of fact (MF) will be reviewed in this meeting. Many a times, the committee had recommended reopening of such cases,” said a former member of one of the committees.
As per procedure, the vigilance and monitoring committee for SC / ST Act cases, with Collector as chairman and an MLA, District Adi Dravidar Welfare Officer, senior police officers and non-officials as members, has to meet at least once every three months. “Though the committees were not functioning to their full potential, they were at least meeting regularly. But that has also stopped now,” a member said.
He stressed the need for more transparency and scrutiny in selecting non-official members of the committee. “Adequate orientation and training programmes for the committee members should be conducted for effective functioning,” he said.
“Many members are not even aware of their duties. For instance, SC / ST Act cases monitoring committee can also monitor compensation and rehabilitation of the victims. However, it is seldom done,” he alleged.
Tenure expired
When contacted, an official said that the delay in conducting the meetings arose due to the recently concluded Assembly election. “Moreover, the tenure of members of the committees has also expired. We must reconstitute them,” the official added.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said that steps would be taken to reconstitute the committees and convene the meetings soon.
