NCST Seeks Fast Disposal of Fake Caste Certificate Cases Pending in Courts

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has moved to Supreme Court for better implementation of reservation for the members of the tribal community. Seeking the intervention of apex court, NCST, in its petition on Tuesday, mentioned that reservations for tribals in government jobs and educational institutions are not implemented in a proper manner.

Urging the apex court to issue a directive to the high courts across the country for the disposal of fake caste certificate cases, which have been pending for long, NCST expressed its hope that the community can take advantage of reservation if the courts do so.

In respect of fabricated caste certificate, the Lok Sabha was informed on December 20, 2017, that over 1,000 cases of people securing jobs using fake caste certificates have been detected in various central government departments itself.

“As per information received from 48 departments/ ministries/organisations till December 10, 2017, around 1,040 cases of fake/false caste certificates have been reported by them,” the Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh had said in a written reply.

 According to the minister, out of these, nearly 65 cases had resulted in the service termination. 570 cases are pending before the concerned authorities for verification and 145 cases are pending before various courts. It simply points that nearly 1,040 deserving people has lost their chance.

If we consider state-wise cases, the maximum number of such fake caste certificate cases was detected in Maharashtra. Around four to five lakh non-ST candidates bagged jobs under the reservation category using fabricated ST certificates over last several years.

As per existing laws in our country, in government services, the reservation to ST’s, both in case of direct recruitment on all India on the basis of open competition and recruitments other than open competition, is 7.5%. In education sector including government and aided sector, 7.5% seats were reserved for STs. But some states changed the percentage factor according to the state demographics. For example, some Central Universities from tribal-dominated North-East India reserved 60% seats for ST students.

However, the Supreme Court had spelled out about any wrongdoing in the process of issuing a caste certificate for the first time on September 2, 1994, in the Madhuri Patil vs Additional Commissioner Tribal Development case.

Through its petition to Supreme Court, the NCST sought the attention of the court on the matter that the court’s over 23-years-old order is not being implemented properly. And even if any fabricated caste certificate case is registered by any government body, the accused easily earns a stay order from the lower courts. Such cases are pending in the courts and over the trial periods, while the accused continues in the government services, the deserving candidates are left with no opportunities