Tribal MLAS and MPS meet minister, oppose dhangars’ ST demand

THEY ALSO WANTED IMPLEMENTATION OF A SC ORDER TO SACK THOSE WHO HAD GOT GOVT JOBS WITH FAKE ST CERTIFICATES

MUMBAI : Even as dhangars -- the shepherd community -- in the state are demanding their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, the tribal community leaders have opposed it. On Tuesday, 17 MLAS and three MPS representing the tribal areas met tribal development minister Vishnu Savara and said such a move would affect their quota. They also demanded implementation of a Supreme Court order to sack government employees who had secured jobs by producing bogus ST certificates.

A recent order by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court allowed Govaris to be considered as tribals. The court said the Govari community is an integral part of the Gond-govari community, which is part of ST category and should be treated as tribals by giving them reservation.

“First of all, inclusion of any new tribe into ST, needs constitutional amendment and no court has the right to do it. Similarly, we believe the demand by the Dhangars for inclusion in the category is not justified as they are culturally very different from us,” said BJP MP from Dindori in Nashik, Harishchandra Chavan.

“We also told the government that appointment of Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS) to study the possibility of inclusion of shepherds in ST category was uncalled for as it is the job of the Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune,” said Padmakar Valvi, Congress MLA from Shahada and a former minister.