The 102nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018 inserted Article 338B, elevating the commission to par with the NCSC and NCST.
Role of the National Commission for Backward Classes
Investigating Constitutional Safeguards provided to backward classes under the Constitution.
Exercising Civil Court Powers to summon officials, demand public records, and examine witnesses during active inquiries.
Inquiry into Rights Violations: investigates specific citizen grievances regarding the outright denial or subversion of rights belonging to SEBCs.
Advising on Socio-Economic Development: Formulates policy guidelines and advises both Union and State governments on targeted welfare planning for backward communities.
Evaluating Departmental Progress: Reviews and audits the grassroots performance and execution speed of central and state-level affirmative action schemes.
Presents comprehensive structural review reports to the President of India regarding the operational health of welfare frameworks.
The Union and State governments consult the NCBC on all major policy matters affecting SEBCs.
Enforcing Reservation Compliance: Monitors and checks public sector recruitment pipelines to guarantee strict adherence to the mandated 27% OBC quotas.
Aids the institutional procedure of identifying and reviewing communities for the Central OBC list under Article 342A.
Case Studies
Enforcing Creamy Layer Compliance in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)
The commission played a central key role in implementation of the 27% OBC reservation within the All India Quota for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses (NEET).
Major issues
Recommendations are not binding on executive
Overlapping jurisdiction with other bodies like NHRX, NCW etc
Lack of administrative and financial autonomy
Strengthening the NCBC is essential to achieve constitutional objective of Social Justice