Hyderabad: With the Telangana Minorities Commission being virtually non-existent, members of minority communities are forced to approach courts to have even minor issues settled.
According to social activist S.Q. Masood, the Commission was constituted in 2013, after a gap of nearly four years. “The Commission took up several hundred cases suo motu and ensured that they were resolved,” he said.
He adds that now, members of minority communities have to approach courts seeking solutions for their problems pertaining to education, civic amenities, the police, and other government agencies.
Mr Kareem Ansari, another social activist, says that the process of filing a petition in court is time-consuming and costly. “In most cases, the petitioners are not well-versed with the law, and so they have to hire advocates,” he said.
Mr Abid Rasool Khan, former Chairman of the Minorities Commission, has handed over charge to the government. “No government has been serious about constituting a minorities’ panel or allowing it to function. As a result of this, minorities have been deprived of their basic rights time and again,” he said.
The Commission functioned out of Raghava Sadan on Raj Bhavan Road until it was shifted to government quarters in Erramanzil. “In the first year and the last year of our four-year term, we did not get any financial assistance from the government. We found it very difficult to pay salaries and meet other expenses,” said Mr Khan.
As per the law, the government is supposed to select members and constitute a new commission before the term of the previous commission ends. Sources from the minorities welfare department said that the government was in the process of identifying eminent persons from among the minority communities for this purpose.
“A panel will be selected and the Minorities Commission will be reconstituted soon,” a senior official told this newspaper.
