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The Uttar Pradesh Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been functioning without a Chairman since November 2019.
The Times of India reported that one of the reasons for the vacant seat of the panel’s head is a lack of consensus between the government and the state BJP over candidates for the post. Reportedly, the state commission receives over a thousand applications every month and the state accounts for over 22% of the Dalit population in the country, amounting to 23 crore dalit people.
In September last year the state government had extended the tenure of the two Vice Presidents and 14 members of the Commission.
The Former Chairman, Brij Lal, who was relieved from his post on November 17 was previously the Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh. Even his appointment was questionable as revealed in an RTI query. As reported by National herald in September 2018, the response to the query revealed that Brij Lal was appointed directly by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath without any departmental recommendation.
Amar Ujala had reported in November last year that after his farewell from the post Brij Lal said that he is a BJP party worker and will always keep working for the BJP.
The Uttar Pradesh Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, 1995 mentions the composition, tenure, powers and functions of the Commission.
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