K'taka Govt asked to fill up SC vacancies

Bangalore, Dec 7 (UNI) National Commission for Scheduled Castes Acting Chairman Fakirbhai Vaghela today asked the Karnataka Goverment to take up a special recruitment drive to fill up the backlog of posts reserved for SCs in various departments.

Talking to reporters here, he rued that for the last 16 years, no one had been penalised or punished for atrocities committed against SCs in the State.

Stating that 401 cases of bogus caste certificates had been detected in the State, Mr Vaghela asked the officials to register cases against those involved, besides the officials responsible for issuing such certificates.

He said the Commission had submitted its first report to the President, recommending reservation for SCs in the private sector.

The report would soon be tabled in Parliament, he added.

Mr Vaghela said the Commission had rejected reservation to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians on the ground that the reservation was based on untouchability, existing in Hindusim only for ages. Those who get converted from Hinduism to other religions were not eligible for reservation, he reiterated.

He said the Commission had begun a new service of introducing a toll-free number 1800118888 for registering complaints of atrocities against SCs. The number of atrocities cases at the national level was 26,127, with Uttar Pradesh leading with over 4,000 cases in 2005.

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