Times of India: Ahmedabad:
Friday, April 11, 2014.
The state
government has not set up any state minority commission for the redressal of
the issues concerning the minority community. The government does not even
dispute it, but in a handbook, it claims to have set up a commission and
provides a contact number for the same.
In a handbook
published for Children Protection Committee, the state department of social
justice and empowerment has provided various contact numbers and addresses for
the redressal of various issues. This handbook has contact numbers of
state/national minority commissions in its list of institutions. While the
Centre has one such commission in place and this handbook bears its address,
the book also contains the number of state's commission with the address of
'Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Corporation, Jivraj Mehta Bhavan,
Gandhinagar'.
Social
activist Mujahid Nafees wanted to know whether any such commission exists and
the details of its office-bearers. To his RTI application, the department of
social justice and empowerment replied that no such commission exists.
Nafees said
that this handbook has been published by the government in collaboration with
NGO, 'Save The Children' and Unicef. "This gives a clear message that the
Gujarat government has got an organization in place to take care of certain
issues of the minority communities, but it has got no power to address the
issues that a commission is empowered to do," he said.
The social
activist said that he has asked the international organizations to throw light
on the issue as to how such mistake has taken place. "I am waiting for
their answer. But I am going to write to all three parties involved in the
publication to correct this mistake," he said.
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