Mysuru: Retired Karnataka High Court Judge Justice A.J. Sadashiva, who headed a Commission on Internal Reservation among Scheduled Castes, has said that the Government should either accept it or reject it.
He was speaking on the second day of the two-day seminar on ‘One century of reservation – since the time of Mysuru Kings,’ organised by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Research and Extension Centre at Vijnana Bhavan, Manasagangothri here yesterday.
Noting that Justice A.M. Hanumanthappa was first appointed to look into the categorisation of internal reservation, Justice Sadashiva said that Hanumanthappa got elected to the Lok Sabha much before he could start any work. Later, Justice H.G. Balakrishna was appointed to head the Commission. But he passed away, Later the then CM N. Dharam Singh appointed him to head the Commission, following which he submitted a report on categorisation of Scheduled Castes and equitable distribution of reservation Eight year ago when D.V. Sadananda Gowda was the CM, he said.
Expressing deep disappointment over the fate of his report, Justice Sadashiva said that the Government can set his report on fire if it did not want to consider it.
Pointing out that the then B.S. Yediyurappa Government in 2008 had provided financial assistance to the Commission headed by him, Sadashiva said there are 101 sub-castes among Scheduled Caste communities with a population of 96,66,104 of which over 80 lakh people are considered untouchables.
Announcing that he had engaged four members for carrying out the survey, he said that the Commission spent nearly Rs.14.50 crore for carrying out a detailed survey and submission of a comprehensive report. But the Government is yet to release the report, he regretted.
Continuing, Sadashiva said that copies of the report were not given to Legislators, but its leak had changed the tone of the debate on the issue as people started to make assumptions.
Pointing out that the survey was conducted with the assistance of Deputy Commissioners and officials in all districts, Justice Sadashiva asserted that he had done justice to Scheduled Caste communities through his report.
Questioning what the Government was up to, Sadashiva expressed anger and reiterated that the Government may set his report on fire if it does not want it.
Later, an interaction followed, which witnessed heated discussion among the participants. Writer K.B. Siddaiah, former Mayor Narayan, Dalit leaders Guruprasad Keragodu, Dr. M. Venkataswamy, Bettaiah Kote, Lakshminarayan Nagawara, Mahesh Sosale and others were present.
This post was published on August 25, 2019 6:47 pm