Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

They were not allowed to go to school, temple or what on a particular street. In one of the Southern States, they were not allowed to come out of their small hutment before sunset. The fathers of the Constitution appreciated all these problems and, therefore, they incorporated articles 15, 16, 17, 38, 46 and 335 in the Indian Constitution. I want to complain to the Minister of State in the Department of Personnel and Training that her Department has violated the Constitution of India. I quote article 338 (9) of the Indian Constitution. What does the article say? It says:

"The Union and every State Government shall consult the Commission (that is, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) on all major policy matters affecting Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."

Now, when these five DoPT circulars were issued in 1998, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was not consulted. Then the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes complained, and when the matter came up before the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which is a Parliamentary Committee, which is a mini-Parliament, the Committee wrote a letter to the Department of Personnel and Training and the reply from the DoPT was that ‘once a judgment is announced by the Supreme Court, it becomes a law of the land’ and they have quoted article 141 of the Indian Constitution. If article 141 is important according to them, then article 338 (9) is equally important according to me. Even number-wise, article 338 (9) is more than article 141; 141 is a small figure when compared to 338. Article 338 (9) says:

The Bill clarifies the issue of powers of the Central Government. The Bill gives power to the Government to frame rules. All the provisions in the Bill are in the interests of the Government as well as of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

I want to refer to one more document. This is a special report given to the hon. President of India on 22nd January, 1998, by the Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It says and I quote:

"The Commission, for the first time, is using this option under article 338(5)(d) of the Constitution since the matter is very important and urgent. It goes to the very roots of the provisions envisaged in the Constitution. The benefits which were being enjoyed by the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes people for decades have been jeopardised by the action of the Government of the day."