Caste panchayats dangerous: Buta

By ASIT JOLLY

Chandigarh

Sept. 8: The chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Mr Buta Singh, has warned that the growing interference of Khap or caste panchayats in Haryana is "dangerous" and could eventually provoke anarchy of the kind that persists in Pakistan’s feudal society.

In Chandigarh to monitor atrocities on scheduled castes across Haryana, Mr Singh said, "Khap panchayats constitute a parallel judicial system and cannot be allowed to continue functioning." Specifically concerned over the repeated targeting of Scheduled Castes families and communities, he said the commission would take up the matter with the Central Government and the President.

The commission has sought the state’s explanation in more than a dozen instances where Scheduled Castes communities have been dispossessed of village lands they had been occupying for more than six decades. Haryana’s chief secretary, Mr Dharam Vir, has also been asked about an incident in Sonepat where a young SC boy was driven to suicide because of police torture. Mr Singh was critical of Haryana’s bureaucracy, which he said, "remains unresponsive on matters pertaining to scheduled castes despite very positive political direction."

He said, "Numerous delegations have reported that officials are continuing to block implementation of orders issued by the state chief minister."

He said there is particular resentment over the state administration’s failure to implement the legally binding provisions of the 85th Constitutional Amendment regarding the inservice promotion of Scheduled Caste employees.