National
Did Bhuria violate norms?
By Our Staff Correspondent
RAIPUR, DEC. 1. The Chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, Mr. Dilip Singh Bhuria, violated constitutional guidelines while delivering his report on the controversial issue of the tribal status of the Chhatisgarh Chief Minister, Mr. Ajit Jogi.
Constitutional experts here point out that as per Article 338 (5) of the Constitution, the Commission is supposed to submit its findings to the President in the case of a matter pertaining to the Centre, and to the Governor, if the issue relates to a State.
However, Mr. Bhuria wrote directly to the Chhatisgarh Chief Secretary asking him to cancel the Chief Minister's tribal caste certificate and file an FIR against him at Bilaspur as the certificate was issued from Pendra Road sub-tehsil in this district.
Sources in the Chhatisgarh Raj Bhavan confirmed that they had not received the copy of Mr. Bhuria's report, which they should have got before it went public.
Mr. Bhuria had on October 16 pronounced Mr. Jogi a non-tribal though the matter was made public on October 22 after the Chief Minister obtained a stay on the implementation of its recommendations from the Chhatisgarh High Court.
The Commission is not empowered to issue any directive to the Chief Secretary of the State to file a case against the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bhuria on Friday said the surname `Jogi' did not exist in any of the 46 Scheduled Tribes of undivided Madhya Pradesh. He made this point at a press conference in Jabalpur though there is no mention of this in his report. Mr. Bhuria is reported to have said that he was willing to testify before the Chhatisgarh High Court to plead vacation of stay on Mr. Jogi's tribal status. The case is to come up for hearing on December 7.
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