Hyderabad: Complaining about the disgraceful treatment by the Telangana government, Minorities Commission chairman Abid Rasool Khan on Monday questioned the state government’s move to shift the commission’s office from its current Raghava Sadan premises.
The office including furniture, files and other stuff was shifted from Raghava Sadan, where the commission has been working for past three years, to a two bedroom house in Erramanzil two days ago.
Speaking to the media at Madina Education Centre in city, Abid Rasool Khan said that a notice was served to the commission asking to vacate the premises and very next day it was shifted. “It is an institution listed under 10th schedule of the A P Reorganisation Act 2013 and needed to be bifurcated as per the Act. Moreover, the commission has been established by virtue of a Parliamentary act of 1979. It cannot be shut or closed like this”, he said.
A case has been filed in the High Court seeking to facilitate the continuation of Commission as per the A P Reorganisation Act 2013 and instruct the government to ensure its functioning as usual. Hearing on this petition is scheduled for January 25, he added. He said that he does not have any intention to continue as the chairman of the commission, but argues that the government can not kill such an institution in such a disgusting manner.
He said, “My tenure as a chairman to the commission was over in June 2016 and I wrote to Centre and State governments to clarify on the continuation of my chairmanship. I did not get any reply from both the authorities. My monthly remuneration was also stopped from June last year.”
As per the Reorganisation Act, the institution must be divided into two for AP and Telangana with chairman for each. The commission as a nodal agency had raised several issues of minority community and resolved many a cases successfully. Several reports have been submitted to state government including waqfs, minority loans, atrocities and others, he stated.
It appears that a recent letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Minorities Commission seeking investigation into the irregularities of waqk properties may have provoked the government to resort to such a move, he said. And added that if the government wanted him to move out, he would leave the post; but the institution must be saved and protected especially when it has all the wherewithal to continue.
He advised the state government not to sideline the Commission in this way and demanded that a considerable budget be allocated for its functioning. The Commission has raised hopes among minority communities in the state and it worked for their welfare with all the judicial powers it had. However, state government’s recent move seems to be hampering the hopes of minorities in the state, he said.
Abid Rasool Khan, Chairman of Minorities Commission Telangana and Andhra Pradesh along with its Members addressed the Media to announce the achievements of the commission and the problems facing to run the commission.(NSS)
Minorities Comm office shifted to a two bedroom abode—Chairman files a case in High Court
