Two Circles: Mumbai: Sunday, September 17, 2017.
Formed with
the aim to protect the rights of minorities, the Maharashtra State MInority
Commission is still lying headless. With most of the important posts lying
vacant, the commission is finding it hard to act and take actions. But the
funds allocation of the commission has still increased.
The fact came
to light in a reply to RTI application filed by Mumbai based RTI activist
Sharique Raza Shaikh, the commission responded that it is yet to fill posts of
vice chairman and members of the commission.
As per
Maharashtra State Minority Commission Act 2005, the commission has one post of
chairman, one post of vice chairman and nine posts of commission members. But
all these are lying vacant.
However, the
Commission had a chairman for more than two years but the chairman too was
sacked. Mohammad Hussain Khan took over the chairman post on January 15, 2015,
but was removed from his post on July 5, 2017, on the serious allegations of
meeting criminals in his office and interfering in Wakf board affairs.
Since then,
the post of the commission’s chairman, along with the others are lying vacant.
The Commission’s other employees do not have any information on when these
posts will be filled.
The
dilapidated state of commission does not stop here. As per RTI the Commission
does not maintain any website for official information, it also does not have
any email address. Though it was claimed that website is under construction.
But even after six months passed, the commission’s website is not yet
functional. Secretary of the commission Zameer Shaikh told TwoCircles.net, “IT
department is advised for the same, it shall come live very soon.”
As for now,
the Commission runs on only 12 employees from Secretary to Guard . Secretary
Zameer Shaikh remarked: “We do not have the authority to speak up if when the
remaining of the appointments will be done. That is the ministry’s job and I am
too their subordinate.”
The
Commission is also failing to utilize all of the funds allocated to it. During
the fiscal year of the 2015-16 total of 5,84,87,000 rupees were allocated from
which 47,25,276 rupees were returned to the ministry. The allocated fund was increased
this year to 6,34,47,508 rupees out of which the 4,31,52,726 rupees have been
spent in the current fiscal year. One employee of the Commission tells on the
condition of anonymity, “This unplanned expenditure is mostly because of the
lack of authorities at the upper level.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
