TN government to file review petition against SC/ST law dilution

Chennai, April 17 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday said it would file a review petition in the apex court against the dilution of some provisios of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The decision to file a review petition was taken at a meeting of ministers and officials chaired by Chief Minister K.Palaniswami, an official statement said.

According to the statement, the government decided to file the petition taking into account the welfare of SC/ST community.

The AIADMK government’s decision comes a day after DMK, along with other opposition parties, staged a protest here against the dilution of the act.

Addressing the gathering, DMK leader M.K. Stalin said the Supreme Court order to dilute the Act was unacceptable and demanded the Central government to file an appeal in the apex Court and also include the Act under the Constitution’s Ninth Schedule, thus taking it beyond scope of judicial review.

The political parties that participated in the protest were DMK, Congress, IUML, MDMK, VCK and MMK.

The apex court in its March 20 order said that an accused cannot be mandatorily arrested under the Act without an initial probe.

The Dalit organisations and various civil society groups see it as "dilution" and accuse the Narendra Modi government of conniving in the case.