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Chennai: The round table conference of Dalit
Panchayat Presidents, organised by Human Rights Forum
for Dalit Liberation (HRFDL) on 13 April 2009 went into
an eerie silence, when a woman Dalit leader burst into
tears while describing how she was victimised by
dominant caste after being elected to the top post.
It took several minutes to console P Chinnammal,
Jegathabi panchayat president in Karur district, by
fellow leaders at the auditorium. Besides, facing severe
humiliation in her home turf for being a Dalit woman
leader by dominant caste people, Chinnammal was now
served with dismissal order under Section 205 of the
Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act of 1994, which allows the
removal of a panchayat president by the District
Collector.
After winning the election, the vice-president of the
Jegathabi Panchayat Sakthivel (from dominant community)
did not allow Chinnammal to sit in the chair since she
belongs to Dalit community. Although she filed a
complaint against Sakthivel’s attitude with the police,
the case was not registered by them as well as by the
district Collector since he belongs to a dominant
community.
Meanwhile, the panchayat president with the common fund
conducted some of the works with the concurrence of the
vice-president. But after completing those works, her
office forwarded bills for settlement and in this point
of time; allegation was made against Chinnammal saying
she misused funds against the stipulated guidelines.
Based on the allegation, reportedly planted by Sakthivel,
Chinnammal received dismissal order under Section 205 of
the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act. Since she was a novice,
Chinnammal approached Anbumani, Extension Officer of the
Panchayat (EOP) to solve the crisis.
In collusion with Sakthivel, EOP not only misled her,
but also sent a written reply to the notice as if she
would not repeat the mistakes done by her without
explaining the details to Chinnammal. The letter written
by the EOP has become a statement of acceptance of the
allegation against her. Based on the notice and reply,
the tahsildar came to the panchayat for enquiry.
Instead of asking Chinnammal to explain her stand for
the allegation, the tahsildar just ignored her and wrote
the resolution to dismiss the president and obtained
signature from the members. Finally, Chinnammal received
dismissal order on 13 March 2009.
Although she could appeal against the illegal dismissal
order, the dominant community and vice-president
Sakthivel are forcing her to hand over the power or face
dire consequences.
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