Indian Express: Mumbai: Monday,
February 11, 2013.
The National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has suo motu registered a case against
the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after The India Express on
February 9 reported that Sunil Yadav, 31, was denied sabbatical to complete his
Masters at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
It was only
through RTI that Yadav got to know the reason for the delay. A “safai
karamchari is not qualified to avail the leave”, as what he will learn is not
connected to his duties, the RTI reply told him, a stipulation incidentally
missing from the BMC rule book.
Vice-Chairman
of the commission Raj Kumar Verka said the summons were issued to the Municipal
Commissioner Sitaram Kunte and other civic authorities. “It is sickening to see
one of the prime civic bodies harbour such castiest mentality. The new report
compelled us to intervene,” said Verka who is in Mumbai for a hearing on the
issue. “We have summoned them to Sahayadri guest house at 11 am tomorrow,” he
said.
He said a
letter has been sent to the PMO and the state Chief Minister’s office to inform
them about the incident. “Who is the BMC to make any law which is not in sync
with the Constitution? We need to find out now from the BMC why Yadav has been
denied his right and how many more such Class IV employees have been denied
their right,” he said.
Kunte and
Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani, under whom Yadav works, refused
to reply to calls and text messages.
With already
two Masters degree and a diploma, Yadav managed to get enrolled into two-year
TISS Masters programme in globalisation and labour in his third attempt.
Despite being denied leave, Yadav attended classes in the morning and worked at
night.
“I have
waited for nine months and have knocked at every doorstep to get my application
noticed. Not once did the officials feel the need to revert. I am only hopeful
that the NCSC intervention will bring an end to this discrimination. Like me,
there are many who hope this caste-based profession of conservancy will be done
away with,” he said. Yadav was also shortlisted for a student exchange
programme at the University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg. But it could be
processed only after BMC allows him to travel to South Africa and to continue
with his education.
The BMC has
also overlooked orders by the National Commission of Safai Karamcharis to
expedite Yadav’s application. Chairperson Kamlaben Gujjar has called the BMC
conduct “unconstitutional” and highly “casteist”.
.JPG)
.JPG)
