Annual Report 1999-2000 taken to alleviate the hardship of the mentally ill persons and of the persons attending to them by providing housing, medical care and other basic amenities. As the response that was received from the Government of Tamil Nadu was inadequate to the situation, the Commission considered the matter again and itself constituted a Committee comprising of Dr. K.S. Mani (former Director, NIMHANS, Bangalore), Dr. (Ms.) Sheela Fenn (retired Professor of Psychiatry, Medical College, Madurai) and the District Collector, Madurai, to visit the Durgah and to make specific recommendations to the Commission for the proper treatment of the patients located in the Durgah. At the close of the period under review, the Commission was awaiting the report of the Committee, upon examining which it would pursue this matter further. Discrimination against Dalits: Gujarat (Case No. 14/6/1999-2000) The Chairman of the Social Justice Committee, a non-governmental organization in Amreily, Gujarat, made a representation to the Commission on 4 January 1999, wherein he stated that the Patel Community of Devalia village in Amreily District was committing atrocities and practising discrimination against the Dalits of the village. The Patels were preventing the supply of water, milk and butter milk and other essential commodities to the Dalits. They were not being engaged as labourers, and the Patel community even prevented the neighbouring villages from engaging them for labour work. Besides this, the Dalits were prevented from going out of the village, and the crops grown by them were being destroyed by the Patels in the presence of the police, who were mute spectators. The Commission took note of the complaint and issued a notice to the Collector of Amreily to visit the village and hold discussions with the threatened groups and send a report within two days. Shri P.G.J. Nampoothiri, Special Rapporteur of the Commission, was also asked to coordinate action in this matter. In his report dated 20 May 1999, Shri Nampoothiri stated that he had contacted the Collector and the SP of the district. The Collector had indicated that due to his busy schedule, he had been unable to visit the district. In the meantime, another NGO called 'Navjeevan Trust' of Ahmedabad filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court. The main thrust of the PIL was the discriminatory methods being followed by the dominant community, namely the Patels, against the Dalits in the district. The problem had begun with encroachment of land, which was done by both the Patels and the Dalits. The High Court had ordered the Panchayat to remove all encroachments. However, the Panckayat, while permitting the Patels to continue with their encroachments, dispossessed the Dalits of the land encroached by them. The Patels had even prevented the Dalits from gettingjobs under the Drought Relief Programme initiated by the Government. The District Magistrate, in his report of 21 May 1999, stated that he had organized a meeting with the villagers and discussed various problems in the presence ofdifferent communities. The Dalits had made demands for continuous police protection, creation of wage employment opportunities, provision 142