Delhi High Court Seeks Centre's Response On Status Of Implementation Of Welfare Schemes For De-Notified Nomadic, Semi-Nomadic Tribes

The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Government to file an affidavit showing the current status of the implementation of welfare schemes for the benefit of various de-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes.

Justice Mini Pushkarna granted four weeks' time to the Central Government to file the affidavit.

The court was dealing with a contempt plea moved by Advocate Dinesh P. Rajbhar alleging non-compliance of an order passed in a PIL seeking to provide constitutional and legal rights to de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

The order was passed on July 22, 2022, vide which a division bench disposed of the PIL filed by one Salek Chand Jain after being satisfied with the steps taken by the Union Government for bringing the denotified Tribes into the mainstream of the country.

The Union Government raised a preliminary objection with respect to the maintainability of the contempt petition on the ground that the same was filed by a third person, who was not a party to the disposed of PIL.

However, the petitioner's lawyer submitted that the contempt plea was maintainable as the directions issued in the PIL were general in nature and thus, he could have filed the plea alleging non-compliance.

The bench noted that the petitioner's lawyer had filed an RTI application on September 29 last year asking queries from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment about the schemes and budgetary allocation for the denotified nomadic tribes. was that the Scheme for Economic

The CPIO of the concerned Ministry replied that Empowerment of De-Notified Tribes (SEED) was in the implementation stage and the benefits would be given on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Accordingly, the court sought Centre's response, noting that the reply to the RTI application did not disclose the status and details as regards the implementation of the welfare scheme for the denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes.

The matter will now be heard on April 15.

Title: DINESH P RAJBHAR, ADVOCATE,

PETITIONER-IN-PERSON v. SAURABH GARG (IAS), SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA & ORS.