New Delhi: Twenty-four Dalit MPs from the NDA were hosted on Monday evening by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan at his residence in Delhi. The meeting expressed disappointment at the appointment of former Supreme Court Judge AK Goel as the chairman of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Justice Goel was part of the bench which had delivered the verdict on SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act which led to widespread agitation by Dalit organisations.

The Dalit MPs in the meeting wanted government to rescind Justice Goel's appointment. The decision they felt had sent a wrong message to the community.

Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had also filed a review petition before the SC on the order passed by the two-member bench which many Dalit organisations felt would dilute bail provisions in the Act aimed at protecting vulnerable sections within the society. The Act was first passed when Paswan was the Social Justice minister in the VP Singh government in 1989.

Some of those present in the dinner meeting at Paswan's residence include Union ministers Ramdas Athawale, Arjun Ram Meghwal and MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste, Hari Manjhi, VD Ram, Savitri Bai Phule, Nihal Chand, Udit Raj, Chintamani, Heena Gavit, Vinod Sonkar, Ram Charitra Nishad , Sharad Bansode, Kirit Solanki.

The meeting also discussed issues pertaining to reservation in judiciary and promotions in government jobs.​