Once defunct,caste panel gets chief

HBCC was constituted on October 12,1993 with former MLA Ramji Lal as its first chairman. He continued in office for several terms before being replaced by Satbir Singh Verma. Verma resigned in March 2005 after the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government came into power in the state.

Ever since,the Commission has been defunct and has only an assistant and a driver on its rolls. It does not have an office and functions from a single room in the chief architect of Haryana’s office in Sector 17 in Chandigarh. Principal Secretary (Department of Welfare of SC and BCs) Dhanpat Singh said the chairperson will be given all the requisite staff and office space. “The Commission has been reconstituted to entertain,examine and recommend requests from Jats,Jats Sikhs,Rors,Tyagis,Bishnois or any other caste for inclusion in the list of Other Backward Classes to the government. But these requests will be entertained only after formal requests are made to the Commission,” he said. The Commission will also hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward classes in such a list.

Other than the chairperson,Jai Singh Bishnoi of Hisar and Som Dutt — an advocate from Kurukshetra — will be the other members of the penel — all will hold office for three years. An IAS or an HCS officer of the rank of joint secretary to the Haryana government will be appointed as the Commission secretary.