Ranchi, Feb. 17: Though the state government might be busy compiling statistics on the social, economic and educational status of the minority community before the visit of a high-level central committee, the development has not done down well with the Muslim bodies and the state minority commission.

The members of the committee, formed by the Prime Minister?s Office, will arrive on February 22.

Led by retired judge Rajinder Sachar, they have been asked to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in the country.

The state welfare department has recently sent a circular to the state police headquarters and all other departments, seeking details of the social, economic and educational status of the minority community in the police force.

Accordingly notices were sent to all the department heads, district headquarters and superintendents of police for compiling such data.

Though initial reports suggested that the survey was being carried out only in the police department, sources in the state government today clarified that the move had been extended to all departments, following a letter to the chief secretary by Union secretary Zafar Mahmood, who is also the officer on special duty.

However, Muslims bodies and the state minority commission are not said to be excited over the visit of the ?high-level? committee.

While state minority commission chairperson Nirmal Chatterjee dubbed the move a ?political gimmick? of the Congress-led UPA government, the Muslim community elders too are not happy over the move.

?It?s a shame that the government does not know how many Muslims have government jobs when right at the time of recruitment all information is compiled. The Congress has played this card only to derive political mileage out of it. The Congress is fooling the Muslims,? remarked Islamic scholar Maulana Ghulam Rasool Baliawi.

Another scholar Maulana Qutubuddin Rizvi, who too has been invited to share his views with the committee, demanded that once the statistics are compiled the government should go public with it.

?The Congress has been ruling the country for a major period and they have done nothing for the Muslims except exploiting them for political gains. The study should be made public since it would bring the truth to light,? he pointed out.

The study being done by the Sachar committee has already generated enough controversy with army first refusing to answer queries on the composition of its rank and file and then sending in the file with the request that the details should not be made public as it could be ?misread?.

An anguished Sachar had pointed out that the queries to the army were part of the data collection exercise done with every government organisation at the central and state levels.