http://bihartimes.com/newsbihar/2008/Oct/newsbihar8Oct5.html
National Commission For Scheduled Castes declares Mahadalit Commission unconstitutional Patna, (Bihar Times): In a major setback to the Nitish Kumar government months before the parliamentary election, the National Commission on Schedule Castes has declared the Mahadalit Commission as as unconstitutional. The Mahadalit Commission was constituted by the state government in September 2007. The NCSC said that the state government was not empowered to de-categorize reservation. The state government last year declared 18 out of the 22 Dalit sub-castes as Mahadalits. The four sub-castes excluded from the Mahadalit category are Dussadh or Paswan, Ravidas (Cobblers), Dhobi (Washermen) and Pasi (toddy-sellers). A full-bench of the NCSC sat under the chairmanship of Buta Singh, the chairman of the Commission to express its objection to the unilateral decision of the state government in this regard. Officials of the Ministry of Social Justice, Department of Personnel and Training, and Ministry of Home Affairs also took part in the meeting. The NCSC said that Bihar does not have State Commission For Schedule Caste (SCSC). If it wants betterment of the Dalits it should first set up SCSC. It questioned the state government's authority of excluding some sub-castes of Dalits. The NCSC has urged the Union ministries concerned to take up the matter with the Bihar government. The constitution of Mahadalit Commission, along with giving reservation to the Extreme Backward Castes in panchayat, was a political decision taken by the Nitish Kumar government to cut the stature of Dalit leaders like Union Steel Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan and UP chief minister, Mayawati, who also nurses ambition in Bihar. As the two belong to Paswan and Ravidas sub-castes, which along with Pasi and Dhobi are more influential in Bihar there was resentment among them. Paswan, in particular, was finding his bargaining position within the UPA considerably reduced in Bihar as division in the Dalit would make him less relevant.
