MADURAI
Information obtained through the Right to Information Act has revealed that the Vigilance and Monitoring Committees (VMC) to be set up at revenue division-level under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have either not been set up or remain non-functional in many districts.
The Act demands that VMCs be set up at the State-level, district-level and sub-divisional level to oversee the effective implementation of the Act.
While the State-level committee to be chaired by Chief Minister is expected to meet twice a year, the district-level committee, headed by Collector and the Sub-divisional level committee, headed by Revenue Divisional Officer, are expected to meet every quarter to review the cases filed under the Act and ensure that proper action is taken by police and other departments.
S. Karuppiah, State general secretary, Dalit Liberation Movement — Tamil Nadu, who filed the requests under the RTI Act, said that three revenue divisions — Sivakasi (Virudhunagar), Paramakudi (Ramanathapuram) and Uthamapalayam (Theni) — had not constituted the committee.
On the other hand, the revenue divisions of Karur, Madurai and Periyakulam said that while the committees had been formed, they had not met for more than a year.
While the Ramanathapuram Revenue Division refused to furnish the information according to Mr. Karuppiah, no replies were received yet from at least four revenue divisions for the requests sent in April 2018.
Arguing that atrocities against SC and ST communities were on the rise in many places, coupled with improper implementation of the SC/ST PoA Act, Mr. Karuppiah said that non-functioning of the committees indicated the scant regard shown by the government in tackling these atrocities.
“The situation is not at all rosy with district-level and State-level committees. While the State-level committee has not met in recent times, district-level committees in many districts meet only once or twice a year for namesake,” he alleged.
He said that he had written a letter to Principal Secretary of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department to immediately ensure that all these committees were formed and made functional.
