The Hindu : Puttaswamy's exit from BC panel leads to piquant situation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Puttaswamy's exit from BC panel leads to piquant situation

By M. Malleswara Rao

Hyderabad March 1. A piquant situation has arisen with the present body of the State Commission for Backward Classes headed by the judge, K.S. Puttaswamy, leaving the office without seeking extension of the term for completing the assigned work and the Government not giving such an extension either suo motu.

The entire work handled by the Commission, including deletion and inclusion of certain backward classes in the State list of BCs, remains incomplete. The Commission was formed in 1993 through an Assembly Act, headed by Justice Puttaswamy, as a permanent body for dealing with issues related to BCs, but with the immediate purpose of making inclusions and deletions in the light of an agitation by Kapus at that time who sought their inclusion in the State list.

If a new team consisting of a chairman and three members is named, it may or may not accept to complete the report of Mr. Puttaswamy. Fears are being expressed by the people of certain castes, seeking inclusion in the list, about the possible inordinate delay. The new body may require as much time and money as the previous one for doing the job, they feel. The Puttaswamy panel, after coming into existence in 1994, took seven-and-a- half years to take the work to its present form. The Government has spent Rs. 35 lakhs yearly on it, totalling Rs. 2.59 crores.

The Commission was given a three-year term as per the Act but it was extended by another three years on the request of Justice Puttaswamy on the plea that the work was incomplete. Later, a six-month extension was given five times with the last one lapsing on September 30 last following which the Commission did not seek the benefit any further, nor was it given by the Government on its own.

As of now, there is no indication from the Government on appointing the new team, but if it does, it may ask the new incumbents to pick up the thread from it was left by the previous one, thus saving time. A top official in the BC Welfare Department is of the view that new panel, if named, may find the job easier instead, with the basic edifice being already built.

While there are 92 castes in the existing State list of BCs, representations have been made by a record number of 109 other castes to the Commission seeking BC status. Among them are "upper castes also, including Reddys and Brahmins, the only exception is the Kamma community. Regarding Kapus and others who also sought the status, the Commission had conducted a survey on their economic and social conditions by a former official of ISI, Han Rao. But, members of the BCs who are already in the list, rejected the findings alleging that the findings were superficial and that they did not cover rural areas in depth.

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