Minorities panel has virtually no members

New Delhi, March 8

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) — an organisation established to safeguard the constitutional and legal rights of minorities and which was once headed by Hamid Ansari, now Vice-President — currently has no chairperson and virtually no members.

The last of its members will retire tomorrow and the government has so far not finalised names of the new chairperson and members.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, asked about the reconstitution of the commission, said it might happen soon. 

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The NCM has a sanctioned strength of seven members, including the chairperson, with each member having a fixed tenure of three years. At present, only one member—Dadi E Mistry—is in the commission and he is also slated to retire tomorrow.

Earlier, members Farida Abdulla Khan retired in October last year, while Praveen Davar retired in January this year. Another member, Mabel Rebello completed her term in February 2016. The government did not appoint any persons to replace the outgoing members.

So much so that the last chairman, Naseem Ahmed, who completed his term on March 3, twice wrote to the Minority Affairs Ministry to fill the vacant posts as the workload was increasing on the remaining members, but nothing was done. 

The NCM draws members from five recognised minority communities: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Parsis. — IANS