The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Backward Classes panel chief asked to quit

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Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Backward Classes panel chief asked to quit

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: In an unexpected move, the government has asked the chairperson of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, C.S. Dwarakanath, to resign from his post.

In a letter to Mr. Dwarakanath, Deputy Secretary of the Social Welfare Department has said that the government “desires to” have his resignation and that he should resign “within three days from the date of the letter”.

Further, the letter says: “If no resignation is received within the said stipulated period, the government will take action to withdraw your appointment.”

The letter of March 20 was received by Mr. Dwarakanath on March 24. Mr. Dwarakanath has said that he will not submit his resignation and will approach the court on this matter. “It has come as a shock to me,” he said.

Census may be hit

The work that might be immediately affected by this development is the caste-based census which was due to be taken up by the commission. Preparations were on for the exercise, which will entail a door-to-door survey of 1.18 crore households by one lakh enumerators.

The budget for the census was released by the State Government (Rs. 2 crore) and the Union Government (Rs. 22.5 crore) in 2005, but the proposal was kept in cold storage until Mr. Dwarakanath put this on top of the agenda when he took over as chairman of the commission.

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