The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal today said it would resist any move by the Punjab government to reduce the number of members on the Scheduled Castes Commission.
During the Question Hour today in the Assembly, SAD's Pawan Kumar Tinu, who had raised a supplementary question, said he was taken aback when Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot said the strength of the committee may come down to three from the present 10.
"We had met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who assured us that the strength of the SC Commission will not be reduced... The why is the minister saying that the number of members will come down?" Tinu asked.
He said in Punjab, Dalits constituted 34 per cent of the population and any move to reduce the number of members of the commission would be resisted.
However, Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi sought to counter Tinu, saying "if the strength of members of the SC Commission is higher, does it mean that they will work more?"
Channi claimed that during the previous government, commissions such as the SC Commission had allegedly become parking places to "adjust" the favourites of the then ruling party.
Earlier, responding to the question raised by Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Dharamsot informed the state Assembly that the post of the chairman of the Scheduled Castes Commission was lying vacant since November 29, 2017, and it would be filled up soon.
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