In a move that could see caste and community certificates of several hundreds of government employees coming under the scanner, the Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has asked the authorities concerned to conduct detailed investigations and take action on unmistakable instances of persons using forged certificates to procure government jobs, mostly in the quota reserved for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates.
Commission chairman P.N. Vijayakumar, issuing the order here on Friday after allowing a petition filed by C.K. Govindan of Adimali, quoted Mr. Govindan that there were reports of nearly 1,100 persons who had procured bogus caste and community certificates for getting jobs in various government departments, thus sabotaging the scope of reservation over the last several years, and more shockingly, with no action taken so far.
Mr. Vijayakumar said the Commission had asked for a report from the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, the directors of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe development departments and the director of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (KIRTADS), with the KIRTADS director reporting that after the introduction of the Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act in 1996, as many 360 cases of bogus certificates were brought to the notice of KIRTADS, of which 220 were found to be bogus indeed.
For police case
Stating that this was not just a criminal offence, but ‘large-scale organised cheating’ to further suppress the downtrodden, Mr. Vijayakumar, in his order, has asked KIRTADS to forward details of all complaints received there so far to the State Police Chief, who in turn has to utilise provisions of the SC/ST Act and set up a special investigation team, register cases and probe the issue. The cases could be registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The investigating agency was to verify not just the SSLC books or service records of the delinquent, but original school records and ‘collect as many evidence as possible so as to unearth the truth’, the Commission ordered, also asking department heads concerned to initiate departmental probes against those who were still in service guilty of such bogus practice.
