By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: Upset with the BJP-Shiv Sena government’s step to ouster of him along with his staff, Munaf Hakeem, the expelled chairman of Maharashtra Minorities Commission has alleged that the three-month old government has “insulted the institutional culture” by not following any of the processes before replacing him.
Mohammed Hussain, a senior BJP leader from Jalgaon district, was hurriedly appointed in place of Hakeem although there is no formal announcement about the new appointment. Hussain has already assumed the office on January 15, thereby shutting the door to Hakeem even before a formal announcement is made.
Munaf Hakeem (Courtesy: http://freepressjournal.in)
“My tenure of five years has not expired but the government hastened to replace me because it wants every institution to work only as per its diktat”, Hakeem alleged.
In a free-wheeling interview with TwoCircles.net, Hakeem, who still has 2 ½ years of his tenure remaining, sounded nervous and agitated due to his ouster and shared his helplessness in serving the minority communities in the state (through the post).
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the saffron coalition in Maharashtra has ousted non-likeminded faces from such posts. The replacement of Hakeem is an example of how the government is attempting to restructure minority institutions by replacing office bearers appointed by previous government with new faces affiliated with saffron parties. The process started in December 2014 by replacement of Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation (MAMFDC) office bearers.
Hakim claimed, he has not been formally dismissed yet but was replaced in a hurry. “I have not yet received any communiqué from the government but one of my staff informed me that at 10.00 pm that day, my chair was occupied by the new appointee.”
On asking probable reason for his dismissal, Hakeem said, “I had announced on January 10 that I wish to commission a survey to ascertain the number of Muslim inmates across jails in Maharashtra. I was also in the processof questioning the government about appropriate action on the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) survey of 2011. The TISS had pointed out that Muslims made up 36% of the total prison population, more than three times the share of Muslims in the state’s population.”
He then alleged that his work in this regard is the most probable reason that might have irked the government to replace him because, soon after his announcement of fresh survey, the government had summoned the Commission’s secretary and expressed its displeasure.
“I learned from the media that my association with opposition party is cited as one of the reason of my replacement but that cannot be the reason because the Commission works independently without interference of any political motive or intervention,” he explained.
The Commission under his chairmanship also questioned the previous government, he said adding, “There is nothing like ‘political appointee’ as alleged in some media because if that would have been true, then we would not have been critical against previous government. We raised community issues then, under the NCP-Congress government too.”
Hakim was keen to commission TISS to do a follow-up survey on the same subject this year: to assess the changes in the numbers and conditions of prisoners from the minority community.
“A couple of week before I had spoken with the TISS authorities to conduct two surveys. One, as the follow up of 2011 survey while the other, specifically focusing Mumbai region and analysing Muslims in prison as well as police lock ups. I was very much enthusiastic about the second survey, which I had planned after I received many informal complaints of detention of large number of Muslims in the police stations without formal charges,” he elaborated.
The Minorities Commission has the authority to appoint any study relating to minority affairs and submit a report to the government for action, he opined. “(But) as I am replaced, it is a clear message from the government that it does not want such a survey conducted. It is also clear that I am a hurdle for them because a new chairman was appointed all of a sudden.”
Replying to the question of challenging his ouster before court of law, he said, “I am collecting legal opinions from lawyers and once I am convinced, then would definitely approach the courts in order to continue serving my best to the minority communities in the state.”
While TwoCircles.net could not get any official from the government to speak on the issues, Hussain himself dismissed there was anything wrong with his appointment. He told an online portal Scroll.in that the appointment of new head of the Commission is a standard practice when a new government takes over and that “there is nothing unusual or urgent about taking charge (by him) late at night.” He also refuted Hakeem’s claim that the change in chairman had anything to do with the proposed survey of Muslim prisoners.
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