THE ROLE OF THE ANDHRA PRADESH SC/ST COMMISSION IN PROTECTING AND PROMOTING DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS

social sciences

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, approximately 97 percent of all trials in the Prevention of Atrocities Act that had been instituted till 2012, remained unresolved. The Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was created by Act No. 9 of 2003 to bridge precisely this type of gap: the divide between what the Constitution promises and what a Dalit petitioner actually gets when she walks into a Mandal Revenue Office. Through investigating this institution from the perspective of public administration and not a legal one, this paper bluntly asks whether a body with the civil powers of a court, but which has none of a court’s teeth can move the needle on enforcement? Through a study of Annual Reports and Triennial Reviews of the Commission (2007-2012), NCRB crime statistics, and data received from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, this study tracks the Commission in the discharge of two functions it was handed protection (restoration of land, registration of FIRs, relief from atrocity) and promotion (oversight of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan, legal literacy, and hostel inspections). The power of independent enforcement, or the lack thereof, has made the executive dependent during inquiries and the Special Court backlog has 88% incompleteness. These are the three structural chains holding the institution back. This study concludes with five modifications into law for empowering state, level human rights bodies with autonomy rather than advisory status.

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