New Delhi: A committee the Union government had set up just ahead of the Bengal Assembly elections in 2016 to examine a proposal to grant Scheduled Tribe status to 11 Gorkha communities is yet to submit its report.

Academics and organisations working for the welfare of the Gorkhas say the NDA government's move lacked seriousness and was only meant for political gain in the elections that year.

The Bengal government had in February 2014 submitted a proposal to the Centre, saying ST status be granted to 11 Gorkha communities - Bhujel, Gurang, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai, Sunwar, Thami, Yakhha and Dhimal.

The Union ministry of tribal affairs set up the committee under Ashok Pai, a joint secretary, in the first week of April 2016 to examine the proposal for these 11 communities in Bengal and other states.

The committee was given three months to submit its report. But before Pai could examine the matter, he was transferred to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

The panel - later reconstituted under another senior officer, Vishu Maini - has not submitted its report till date.

Nearly 700 communities have so far been recognised as Scheduled Tribes and are entitled to reservation in government jobs and admission in academic institutions.

The government also runs affirmative schemes like residential schools and scholarships for tribal children.

Tribal affairs minister Jual Oram said the Bengal government's proposal "has been processed as per the extant modalities".

"Meanwhile, a committee has been constituted to examine and recommend regarding granting of ST status to these 11 communities living in Sikkim and other Gorkha dominated states and areas," Oram said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, possibly referring to Darjeeling and certain pockets in some states.

Professor Manish Tamang, working president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, said the actions of the Union government lacked commitment.

Several other Gorkha communities in other states are yet to get ST status, he said, pointing out that the committee's mandate was confined to examine only 11, thereby ignoring the demand for the status from the communities in other states.

"In Assam, the Tamang community is not ST. But the government used the local demand from Darjeeling for ST status for 11 communities as the national template. This disqualified the Tamangs in Assam and several other communities in other states. It seems this move was aimed at gains in elections," Tamang, who teaches at Motilal Nehru College here, said.

Professor Saroj Giri, who teaches in Delhi University, said the move was purely aimed at the Bengal Assembly elections. "It was for elections and also to shift the attention from the demand for a separate Gorkhaland," Giri said.