CHENNAI: The menace of bogus community certificates must be stopped immediately, failing which the very purpose of providing caste-based reservation in education and government service will be defeated, the Madras High Court has said.
A division bench comprising Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar directed the state government to take note of the “big racket” and take steps to stop it by initiating criminal proceedings against those involved.
“These days, people are tempted to secure a Scheduled Tribe certificate based on the certificate of their relatives and other persons. Such an approach should be thwarted, and those persons who obtained such false community certificates are liable to be prosecuted under the criminal law. Any false or bogus records relating to community certificates, more specifically, the Scheduled Tribe, are to be viewed seriously,” the bench said.
The judges observed that persons obtaining such fake certificates are availing themselves of reservation and other benefits under various schemes. Therefore, the assessment and correctness of the certificate must be verified by the competent authorities.
Even if a reference certificate is provided to the authorities, the authenticity of those certificates must also be verified. In the event that the certificates are found to be incorrect, bogus, or otherwise fraudulent, actions should be taken to cancel the community certificate and prosecute the offenders, the court added.
The court passed the order in response to a plea filed by V Samburnam, who sought ‘Kurumans’ Scheduled Tribe community certificates for her children based on the certificates of her brother and his son.
However, it came to light that the petitioner, both before the original authority and the appellate authority, had failed to establish that she belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community.