The State Commission for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) is not empowered in law to adjudicate and decide disputes between parties and pronounce its orders either interim or final as it is neither a tribunal nor a court, the High Court of Karnataka has said.
“The commission cannot be construed to be a tribunal or a forum discharging the functions of a judicial character or court. Article 338 of the Constitution itself does not entrust the commission with the power to take up the role of a court or an adjudicatory tribunal and determine the rights of parties inter se,” the High Court has observed.
2016 order set aside
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while setting aside a 2016 direction of the Commission asking the government to promote to a government employee in a dispute over seniority and date of promotion between two employees belonging to the Scheduled Caste.
M.B. Siddalingaswamy, a Superintendent working in the Office of the Director, Department of Pre-University Education, had questioned the 2016 order of the commission on a plea filed by K.R. Muralidhar, also a Superintendent in the same office.
