Guv's refusal to give assent to ordinance gets support

Governor Vajubhai R Vala has got support from an unexpected quarter for declining to give assent to the Ordinance on reserving a percentage of construction works for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) in various government departments.

There is always a complaint from activists that the reservation policy is being misused by people who have procured fake caste certificates. Former general secretary and former vice-president of the ST wing of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee S H Subhash has been fighting against those who have allegedly usurped the benefits meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by producing fake caste certificates, including MLA M K Somasekhar, a lieutenant of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Now, Subhash has issued a statement in support of the Governor, accusing the state government of being partial towards those who have been misusing benefits meant for the SC and ST communities by trying to get an ordinance passed hurriedly.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said, if the government has any concern for the SC/ST communities, it should initiate action against those who have procured fake caste certificates. “It should establish a separate court to try cases against the persons, who have produced fake caste certificates to avail various benefits. Then a bill can be passed on reserving a percentage of construction works for the SC/STs in government departments, to make it an Act. Only then, the real Dalits will be benefitted,” he said. Pointing out that the state government has been transfering the ADGP, IG, DIG, SPs, DySPs and Inspectors of the Civil Rights Enforcement cell frequently since the three years of Siddaramaiah’s tenure, he said, the government is, and also has been, appointing tainted persons to Karnataka Public Service Commission and Lokayukta.