Taking a serious note of lapses in the implementation of provisions of Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes (PoA) Act in Punjab, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued directions to the State Government to conform to the provisions of said Act. The NCSC on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over the State of affairs in Punjab in regard to implementation of provisions of PoA Act.
The funds being spent exclusively for SC related schemes were meager two percent in Punjab while the state government had agreed that it could assign 28% funds in this regard. As per the norms, 32 % of plan funds need to be assigned for plans related to Scheduled Castes. Another serious lapse noticed by the Commission was non-filling up of 20,000 backlog vacancies in SC category in Punjab. On the atrocities against SC people too, delays have been noticed in filling of FIRs as well as in trials leading to very low conviction rate.
NCSC chairman Dr Pl Punia said State Vigilance & Monitoring Committee headed by Punjab CM had not held its meeting since 2006 even though it is required to hold its meeting every six months. The chairman said that the financial assistance of Rs434.07 lakhs under Scheduled Caste Special Component Plan released by the Centre in 2010 had not been properly utilized and the utilisation certificate was not submitted, resulting in non-release of funds under this to the State for the following years i.e. 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.