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"6. For effective implementation of various safeguards provided in the Constitution for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) and in various other protective legislations, the Constitution provided for appointment of a Special Officer under Article 338 of the Constitution. The Special Officer who was designated as Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was assigned the duty to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards for SCs and STs, provided in various statutes, and to report to the President of India on the working of these safeguards. In order to facilitate effective functioning of the office of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 17 regional offices of the Commissioner were also set up in different parts of the country. On persistent demand of the Members of Parliament that the Office of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes alone was not Page No.# 15/23 enough to monitor the implementation of Constitutional safeguards, a proposal was mooted for amendment of Article 338 of the Constitution (Forty-sixth Amendment) for replacing the arrangement of one Member system with a Multi Member system. The Government thereafter through a resolution in 1987 decided to set up a Multi-Member Commission, which was named as National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Consequent upon the Constitution (Eighty-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2003 coming into force on 19.02.2004, the erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been replaced by (1) National Commission for Scheduled Castes and (2) National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. The Rules of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes was notified on 20 February, 2004 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment."[Annual Report 2014-15 National Commission for Scheduled Castes.]

28) In the case of Pankaj Kumar Vs. State of Uttarakhand & Ors., (2019) 0 Supreme (UK) 357: 2019 Scc OnLine Utt 929 , the Division Bench of High Court of Uttarakhand had observed as follows:-

"27. Clause (f) of Article 338-A(5), [which is what is specified in clause (f) of Paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes], prescribes, as the functions and responsibilities of the Commission, the duty to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement of the Scheduled Tribes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify. The power conferred on the President to specify by way of Rules is made subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament. No Rule made by the President, or any law made by Parliament, conferring power on the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes to pass orders of injunction, temporary or permanent, have been brought to our notice. In the absence of any such Rule or Law having been made, reliance placed on clause (f) of Article 338-A(5) of the Constitution, or Page No.# 18/23 on clause (f) of Paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure, is misplaced."

10. Interestingly, here, in clause (8) of Article 338, the words used are "the Commission shall ... have all the powers of the civil court trying a suit". But the words "all the powers of a Civil court" have to be exercised "while investigating any matter referred to in sub-clause (a) or inquiring into any complaint referred to in sub-clause (b) of clause 5". All the procedural powers of a civil court are given to the Commission for the purpose of investigating and inquiring into these matters and that too for that limited purpose only. The powers of a civil court of granting injunctions, temporary or permanent, do not inhere in the Commission nor can such a power be inferred or derived from a reading of clause (8) of Article 338 of the Constitution.