National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

Also called: NCST, Article 338A · Topic: Constitutional Bodies: UPSC, CAG, Finance Commission and Others · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is a constitutional body under Article 338A. It watches over the safeguards given to Scheduled Tribes (STs), looks into complaints and reports to the President [1]. It was carved out of the joint SC–ST commission by the 89th Amendment (2003).

It matters because tribal problems are different from caste problems. They are about land, forests and people being moved off their land. The NCST is the one national body whose job is to keep these issues in front of the government and Parliament.

Explanation

How it came about

• Constitutional body means the Constitution itself creates it. Only a constitutional amendment can abolish it or change its basic design. An ordinary law or a government order cannot.
• Scheduled Tribes are the tribes the President lists by order under Art. 342.
• How it grew, step by step:
• 1950: the original Art. 338 created a single Special Officer, called the Commissioner for SCs and STs, appointed by the President [2].
• 1978: a Commission for SCs and STs was set up by a government resolution. It was non-statutory, which means no law created it.
• 1987: it was renamed the National Commission for SCs and STs.
• 1990: the 65th Amendment made it a constitutional body with several members.

• 2003: the 89th Amendment split it into the NCSC (Art. 338) and the NCST (Art. 338A).

• Why the split happened:

• Tribal problems such as land, forests and displacement are different from SC problems.

• A joint body could not give tribal issues enough attention.

• Art. 338A came into force on 19 February 2004 [1]. The two commissions have worked separately since 2004.

Composition and functions

• Members: a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members. Art. 338A(2) fixes this number [1].
• Appointment: by the President, by warrant under his hand and seal (a formal order that the President signs and seals) [1][3].
• Tenure: three years. This is set by Presidential rules, not by the Constitution.
• Functions under Art. 338A(5) [1]:
• (a) investigate and monitor all ST safeguards under the Constitution, laws and government orders, and judge how well they work;
• (b) inquire into specific complaints that STs were denied their rights;
• (c) take part in and advise on planning for tribal socio-economic development, and check progress in the Union and in every state;
• (d) report to the President every year, and at other times if it thinks fit;
• (e) recommend steps the Union and the states should take;
• (f) carry out any other functions the President specifies by rule.

Extra duties under the 2005 Rules

• Legal basis: the NCST (Specification of other functions) Rules, 2005, made under Art. 338A(5)(f) [4].
• Under these rules the NCST must look at measures for:
• giving forest-dwelling STs ownership rights over minor forest produce, which means forest products other than timber, such as tendu leaves, honey and lac [4];
• protecting tribal rights over mineral and water resources;
• displacement and rehabilitation of tribal people moved out by development projects;
• stopping land alienation (tribal land passing to non-tribals) and getting such land back;
• forest protection with tribal participation;
• full use of PESA, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996, which gives gram sabhas in Fifth Schedule areas powers over local resources;

• reducing and ending shifting cultivation (clearing a patch of forest, farming it, then moving on).

• Link to the Forest Rights Act 2006: this Act recognises the individual and community forest rights of forest-dwelling STs. Monitoring it fits the NCST's duties on forest produce and land.

Powers and their limits

• Civil-court powers (Art. 338A(8)): these apply only while the NCST is investigating under 5(a) or inquiring into a complaint under 5(b). During that work it can [1]:
• summon any person, make them attend and examine them on oath;
• order documents to be found and produced;
• take evidence on affidavit (a written statement sworn to be true);
• ask any court or office for public records;

• issue commissions to examine witnesses and documents.

• Must be consulted (Art. 338A(9)): the Union and every state government must consult the NCST on all major policy matters affecting STs [1].

• Limit: it is a watchdog and adviser, not a court. Its findings are recommendations. They do not bind the government.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits: Article 338A, inserted by the 89th Amendment (2003) and in force from 19 February 2004 [1]. It mirrors Art. 338 (NCSC) clause by clause. Only the community is different.
• Reporting chain (Art. 338A(6), (7)) [1]:
• Step 1: the NCST sends its report to the President.
• Step 2: the President has it laid before each House of Parliament.
• Step 3: a memorandum (a note) goes with it. It explains what was done on each recommendation and gives reasons for any recommendation that was not accepted.

• State matters: if a report concerns a state, a copy goes to the Governor. The Governor lays it before the state legislature with a similar memorandum.

• Key case: All India Indian Overseas Bank SC and ST Employees' Welfare Assn. v. Union of India (1996). The case was decided under Art. 338, and Art. 338A(8) has the same wording.

• The Supreme Court held that the civil-court powers are only for investigation and inquiry.

• The commission cannot grant injunctions (court orders that stop an action, such as a transfer).

• How it has worked in practice:

• Late reports: the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs noted that even the NCST's first report had not been laid before each House of Parliament [6]. The action-taken report on the second report (2006-07) was laid in the Lok Sabha only on 26 April 2013 [7].
• Vacancies: the same Committee found that members' posts stay unfilled for long periods, even though the Ministry of Tribal Affairs knows about the gaps [6]. On 25 July 2016, three Member posts in the NCST were vacant [3]. The position may have changed since then.
• Typical cases: service grievances of ST employees, complaints about reservation rosters, and atrocity cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

Don't confuse with

• National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Art. 338: it has the same structure and powers, but it protects SCs, and under Art. 338(10) it also covers the Anglo-Indian community [2]. The NCST covers only STs.
• National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), Art. 338B: it was created by the 102nd Amendment (2018) "in the same manner" as the SC and ST commissions [5]. The NCST came 15 years earlier, through the 89th Amendment.
• Joint National Commission for SCs and STs (65th Amendment, 1990): this was one body for both groups. The NCST exists only because the 89th Amendment (2003) split that body.
• A civil court: the NCST has civil-court powers only while investigating or inquiring. It cannot grant injunctions, and its findings are not binding decrees (1996 ruling).

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 338A → NCST, inserted by the 89th Amendment (2003) and in force from 19 February 2004 [1].
• Composition (a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and 3 Members) is in the Constitution. Tenure (3 years) is set only by Presidential rules. This is a common trap.
• The NCST reports to the President, not directly to Parliament. Reports about a state go to the Governor, who lays them before the state legislature [1].
• The duty on ownership of minor forest produce comes from the 2005 Rules under Art. 338A(5)(f), not from the text of Art. 338A [4].
• Civil-court powers apply only during investigation or inquiry, and there is no power to grant injunctions (All India IOB SC/ST Employees' Welfare Assn., 1996).
• The Union and every state must consult the NCST on all major policy matters affecting STs (Art. 338A(9)) [1].

Mains Points

• A watchdog without teeth:
• The NCST can investigate like a civil court, but its findings do not bind the government and it cannot grant injunctions (1996 ruling).
• The government only has to explain why it rejects a recommendation.

• Reform ideas: fixed deadlines for laying reports and action-taken memoranda in Parliament, and a fixed time within which governments must act on recommendations.

• Independence and capacity:

• Posts stay vacant for long periods [3][6], and members are often former party office-bearers.

• Reform ideas: a selection committee that includes the Leader of the Opposition, as for the NHRC and the CIC, and tenure and qualifications written into a law rather than left to rules.

• Was the split worth it?

• A separate NCST with the 2005 mandate on forest produce, land alienation, PESA and displacement gives tribal issues sharper focus [4].
• But it adds overlap with state commissions, the NHRC and the courts, and reports reach Parliament years late [7].
• A single complaint portal, clear referral rules and on-time reports would make Art. 338A a real tool of accountability.

Related concepts

• National Commission for Scheduled Castes

Read more

• National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes