SC/ST Act: Govt will file review petition today
BY Dhirendra Kumar2 April 2018 12:11 AM IST
Dhirendra Kumar2 April 2018 5:42 AM IST
New Delhi: In a damage control move, the government is all set to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order on Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The government would file the plea in the top court on Monday.
According to sources, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has given its final approval for filing the petition for the review of top court's order on SC/ST Act that puts a stop to immediate arrests in complaints filed under its provisions.
Millennium Post was the first to report that the government would file a review petition challenging the Apex court judgement.
Notably, Prasad had on Thursday said that the government is "preparing" to file a review petition against the top court's ruling on the SC/ST Act. "I have already instructed my ministry to consider the desirability of filing a review. Appropriate follow- up actions are being taken," Prasad had said.
Sources further maintained that the Law Ministry had prepared a "watertight case" in consultation with the Ministry of Social Justice, which is the nodal ministry to enforce the Act.
After the Supreme Court's ruling, several BJP leaders and its allies had approached the Modi government to challenge the top court's order.
A delegation of NDA's SC and ST MPs, led by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Union Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot, had last week met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the apex court's judgement diluting provisions of the SC-ST atrocities act.
Gehlot recently wrote to Prasad about a review plea against the Supreme Court verdict.
He noted that there were concerns that the order would make the law "ineffective" and adversely impact dispensation of justice to Dalits and tribals.
The government has been under pressure from the Opposition as well as from its allies and ministers from the Dalit community to seek a review or bring an amendment to undo the Supreme Court ruling.
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