 bill no 283 of  2016 the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes (prvention of caste-based discrimination in educational institutions)  bill, 2016 by shri nishikant dubey, mp a billto effectively prevent the caste-based discrimination in educational institutions and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement1 (1) this act may be called the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes(prevention of caste-based discrimination in educational institutions) act, 20165(2) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "authority", in relation to an educational institution, means the executive or the administrative head of an educational institution;(b) "caste-based discrimination", means any act of an employee or authority of an educational institution that, on the basis of caste or tribe, results in unjust treatment, individually or collectively, to any student or staff, whether teaching or non-teaching, belonging to the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes;5(c) "educational institution" means any college, institute, university, deemed university, whether established by the government or by any citizen or body of citizens and whether in receipt of aid from government or not, recognised by central or state government for the award of a certificate, diploma or a degree in any course of study, education or training;10(d) "employee", in relation to an educational institution, means a person employed for any work including teaching or administrative or technical on regular, temporary, ad-hoc or daily wages basis, either directly or indirectly or through an agent or contractor, whether for remuneration or not, and includes a co-worker, a contract worker, a probationer, a trainee or an apprentice;(e) "head of the institution" means the vice-chancellor in case of a university or a deemed university and in case of any other institution, the principal or the director, as the case may be;15(f) "inquiry committee" means inquiry committee constituted under section 6; (g) "student" includes any person who is pursuing any academic programme including a part-time programme in an educational institution; and(h) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act203  notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, whoever does any act of caste-based discrimination shall be deemed to have committed the offence of caste-based discriminationact of castebased discrimination to be an offence254 any aggrieved person or any other person on his behalf may file a complaint of caste-based discrimination to the officer designated under section 5 in such form and manner, as may be prescribedaggrieved person to make complaint5 (1) every educational institution shall designate an officer or head of the department to entertain complaints of offences of caste-based discrimination under this acteducational institutions to designate an officer for entertaining complaints(2) the designated officer shall,—duties of designated officer30(a) on receipt of a complaint, acknowledge the same to the complainant and forward it to the head of the educational institution;(b) take steps for safety and security of the complainant and witnesses to the committal of offence of caste-based discrimination; and(c) monitor the progress of cases of caste-based discrimination filed in the courts35appointment of inquiry committee6 (1) the head of the educational institution shall, within two weeks from the date ofreceipt of the complaint from the designated officer, appoint an inquiry committee to investigate into the complaint(2) the inquiry committee shall consist of—composition of inquiry committee40(i) the dean of the faculty in the case of a university or one of the head of thedepartments in case of a college or a person immediately below the head in hierarchy in case of all other educational institutions, as the chairperson;45(ii) a member of the senate or academic council in the case of a university or aperson to be nominated by the head of the educational institution from amongst the senior teachers of the institution or the senior most professor or researcher in the case of all other educational institutions, as a member;(iii) a person to be nominated from amongst the senior professors belongingto the scheduled castes by the national commission for scheduled castes, as a member;5(iv) a person to be nominated by the national commission for scheduled tribes,as a member; and(v) a person to be nominated by the national human rights commission, as amember(3) the terms and conditions of appointment of the members nominated under clauses(iii) to (v) of sub-section (2) shall be such as may be prescribed107 (1) the inquiry committee shall—role of inquiry committee(i) inquire into the contents of the complaint; (ii) record both oral and documentary evidence; (iii) give opportunity of being heard to the complainant and the chargedemployee for presenting and defending the case;15(iv) submit its findings to the head of the educational institution within a periodof three weeks of its appointment(2) if the inquiry is not completed within a period of three weeks of the date of appointment of the inquiry committee, the inquiry committee shall, for the reasons to be recorded in writing, complete the inquiry within a further period of three weeks208 the head of the educational institution shall, within one week from the date ofreceipt of report from the inquiry committee, make available a copy of the report to the complainant and the charged employeeprovision of supply of copy of report to the complainant and the charged employees appeal259 (1) any person aggrieved of the recommendations of the inquiry committee mayprefer an appeal to the head of the educational institution within a period of thirty days from the date of the receipt of the copy of the reportdisposal of appeal(2) the head of the educational institution shall, after affording an opportunity ofbeing heard to the aggrieved party including inquiry committee, if required, dispose of theappeal within a period of thirty days and communicate the final decision in writing to the complainant and the charged employee30disciplinary action against charged officer10 where the inquiry committee or the appellate authority finds that the allegationagainst the charged employee has been proved, it shall recommend to the authority to take action against charged employee for committing the offence of caste-based discrimination under this actpunishment3511 (1) any employee who commits the offence under this act shall be punished forthe first offence, with suspension for a minimum period of six months but which may extend upto two years or with fine or both, and for subsequent offence with termination of service(2) the authority shall, in case of second time offence, forward a copy of the report of inquiry committee to the nearest police station for registration of the case against the charged employee40power to make rules12 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesto carry out the purposes of this act(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule5 statement of objects and reasonsthe persons belonging to the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes constitute about one-fourth of the total population of india though, their socio-economic conditions have somewhat improved due to various policies adopted by the government in the post- independence period, they are still the most vulnerable sections of the indian society it is agonizing that they continue to be victims of caste-based discrimination in practically every sphere of the country's socio-economic and cultural lifesuch caste-based discrimination in various forms and to varying degrees is rampant in the educational institutions in general; and higher educational institutions, in particular of late, the extent and magnitude of such caste-based discrimination has increased manifold due to the apathetic attitude of concerned educational institutions on the one hand and colossal neglect towards such caste-based discrimination by the government on the other hand, the victims of discrimination become so desperate that some of them commit suicidethere is a need to effectively and expeditiously address the incidents of caste-based discrimination specifically in the educational institutions and eliminate it at the earliesthence this billnew delhi;nishikant dubeyoctober 10, 2016 financial memorandumclause 6 of the bill provides for nomination of three persons as members of the inquiry committee for investigating into complaints of caste-based discrimination the members will be paid ta/da for attending meetings of the committee at this stage, it is not possible to give the exact amount to be incurred on this account as the appointment of inquiry committees in educational institutions would depend upon the number of complaints of caste-based discrimination however, the recurring expenditure, which cannot precisely be estimated at this stage, would be involved out of the consolidated fund of india in case of educational institution under the central governmentno non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 12 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok   sabha———— a billto effectively prevent the caste-based discrimination in educational institutions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)gmgipmrnd—2906ls(s3)—21112016