Hyderabad: Fake caste certificates of SC/ST/OBC are being issued in the state to take advantage of reservation benefits. This has been brought to the notice of Central recruitment agencies like UPSC and SSC and an appeal has been made to the central government to urgently look into the matter.
In quick response, the Centre has asked the state government to submit an action-taken report by July 15.
Earlier, during a special drive conducted in 2010 to gather information from all states on fake certificates, it was revealed that 1,832 appointments were allegedly secured on the basis of fake caste certificates. Disciplinary proceedings had been initiated in all the cases. 276 fake certificates were cancelled, 521 cases are under litigation while the remaining 1035 cases are still awaiting disciplinary actions.
All recruitment agencies and departments have been issued directives to observe stringent verification methods to check the SC/ST/OBC status of candidates at the time of the initial appointment as well as at the time of promotion.
Veracity of the cases is to be done within a month of receipt of the application. In order to rule out collusion between candidates holding fake certificates and employees at the district level, district magistrates, collectors and deputy commissioners of the districts have been instructed to be vigilant.
Verification process not followed properly
Candidates apply for caste certificates through Mee Seva. The revenue officials are supposed to verify the application by visiting the applicant’s household and go through the records and inquire with the neighbours before giving their approval. Very little of this happens in reality, with most applications getting approved through other means.
So far 56 complaints have been registered, but instead of the one month of turnaround time of report submission, investigations have been going on for months on end.
As many as 30 of these complaints were received from GHMC limits, while the rest of the 26 were from Nalgonda, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad districts.
