The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes received over 150 representations on the first day of its sitting in Kerala here on Wednesday.
Fifteen current and former State and Central lawmakers interacted with commission member Raju Paramar at the start of the session.
Subsequently, 350 office-bearers and representatives of various Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe organisations aired their grievances before the commission.
The bulk of the complaints pertained to lack of reservation for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe members in the private sector.
Many of them accused the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) of covertly implementing a policy of discrimination against SC/ST members in the matter of appointments. They demanded more SC/ST representation in TDB administration.
They demanded that 100 per cent of the seats at the Medical College Hospital, Palakkad, be reserved for members of their community.
There were also complaints of a personal nature, including harassment and discrimination at workplace, denial of education loans to SC/ST students and anomalies in the delivery of various government benefits.
On Thursday, Commission chairperson H. L. Punja will chair the hearing.
