In a major decision, the newly elected Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government in West Bengal has ordered re-verification of around 1.69 crore caste certificates issued in the state since 2011, when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) had first come to power.
The government’s order also states that caste certificates issued to people whose names have been deleted in the Election Commission (EC)’s recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will be examined and “may be cancelled”.
The Adhikari government’s move comes in the backdrop of allegations of fake caste certificates being issued to several people in recent years.
“There were complaints from different quarters that fake SC (Scheduled Caste), ST (Scheduled Tribe) and OBC (Other Backward Class) certificates have been issued to a large number of people since 2011. There is a need for scrutiny. That is why we have asked the authorities to re-verify all the caste certificates. If any officer is found guilty of issuing fake certificates, strict action will be taken against him or her,” Kshudiram Tudu, Minister for Backward Classes Welfare, said.
The order dated May 14 was issued by the Backward Classes Welfare Department secretary to all district magistrates of the state.
“You are aware that around 1.69 crore caste certificates have been issued since 2011 (SC: 1.00 crore, ST: 21 lakh and OBC: 48 lakh). Of these, around 47.80 lakh caste certificates (SC: 32.51 lakh, ST: 6.65 lakh & OBC: 8.64 lakh) have been issued by the respective certificate issuing authorities against applications received through the Duare Sarkar camps (in 10 phases) within the stipulated time frame,” the order stated.
While communities such as Matuas and Rajbanshis are listed in the SC category, many Muslim groups are included in the OBC list.
The Duare Sarkar (government at your doorstep) programme was a flagship initiative of the previous Mamata government, under which neighbourhood camps were organised to facilitate access to schemes and receive applications for caste and other certificates across the state.
“Now, it has been observed that the authenticity and genuineness of some caste certificates issued since 2011 have been challenged by different quarters,” the order said.
It noted that the issuance of caste certificates is a statutory responsibility of the sub-divisional officers (SDOs) and district welfare officer (DWO), Kolkata, which required detailed scrutiny and verification before any certificate could be issued.
“Considering the importance and sensitivity of the matter, re-verification of such caste certificates at the level of the respective issuing authorities will be done in accordance with the prevailing norms and statutory provisions,” it added.
The order directed district magistrates (DMs) to ask all SDOs to re-verify all caste certificates issued since 2011 “along with the related 2nd generation caste certificates issued on the basis thereof, in terms of prevailing norms and statutory provisions, to ensure the authenticity and genuineness of the issued caste certificates and maintain transparency in the caste certificate issuing process”.
It said that strict action would be taken if it was found that the certificates had been issued improperly.
The order also referred to the controversial SIR exercise in the state. “Moreover, caste certificates issued to the persons and dependents whose names have been deleted from the electoral roll of the state in the recently conducted SIR exercises, shall be examined and may be cancelled following the due process as per extant Act & Rules mentioned above. Any laxity in this regard will be viewed accordingly and personal liability of the issuing authority shall be fixed,” the order read.
In its first Cabinet meeting, the new BJP government had made it clear that those whose names had been deleted from the voter lists following the SIR exercise would not be able to avail government schemes.
In the run-up to the Bengal elections, the SIR was carried out over several months that saw deletion of around 91 lakh voters – including over 27 lakh voters due to “logical discrepancies” following adjudication, whose appeals would be now heard by tribunals. As per the EC, the 19 tribunals have received 34 lakh applications so far.