Furnish details of employees sans valid caste certificate: HC
   Date :17-Feb-2020

Furnish details of employ
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Ensure that persons in Govt employment against the reserved seats produced the Certificate of Validity before their retirement, directs the court 
 
Lamenting lack of action against employees who obtained public employment without caste validity certificate, the High Court has sought details of all such employees from the State Government within four weeks. If at all the Government is serious about all this, it will enact measures otherwise every bogus caste certificate holder will escape the consequences of law, the High Court observed tersely while putting the Government on notice.
 
The High Court noted that despite many orders and directions, there are thousands of employees who have secured appointment, but without producing caste validity certificate. Even where the Caste Scrutiny Committee has rejected the certificate applied for, the appointment is continuing in the reserved seat. It is for the State Government to establish complete connectivity with the Scrutiny Committee or ensure that persons in Government employment against the reserved seats produce the Certificate of Validity before their retirement so that the Government is not obliged to pay pension and retiral benefits to somebody who is not a genuine Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the High Court noted.
 
The High Court made it clear that it would not go on monitoring and supervising the implementation and enforcement of the Caste Validity Act, and asked the Social Justice, and Tribal Welfare Departments to collect such details of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe employees appointed against reserved seats and find out number of such ineligible employees.
 
The petitioner All India Adiwasi Employees’ Federation rued that the appointment was secured but without producing Caste Validity certificate and continued despite rejection by the Scrutiny Committee. The PIL also charged the State Government with complete inaction and allowing continuation of thousands of officers who do not belong to the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe but by fraudulent means have obtained the Caste Certificate and facilitating them to enjoy the benefit of the promotional posts.
 
While taking serious note of this charge, the High Court asked the State Government to establish complete connectivity with the Scrutiny Committee or ensure that persons in Government employment against the reserved seats produced the Certificate of Validity before their retirement so that the Government was not obliged to pay pension and retiral benefits to somebody who was not a genuine Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
 
At least the authorities should compile the record of the employees who have secured employment against reserved posts and details like whether they have applied for scrutiny and verification and whether that is pending or decided and a certificate is produced. The information can be collected by the Secretary in Tribal Development Department and Social Justice Department for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to maintain such records and update them from time to time. There should be a connectivity with the department employing the Government servant, these two departments, and the Competent Scrutiny Committee, the HC asserted. What is the statutory scheme?
 
 
Under the Maharashtra Act No XXIII of 2001 (The Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000), it is obligatory for a person seeking public employment to produce the Caste or Tribe Certificate issued by the Competent Authority. Once such a caste certificate is procured and produced before the authority appointing him/her against a reserved post, that authority has to forward the underlying claim for verification and scrutiny by the Competent Scrutiny Committee.
 
At the end of this process, the Scrutiny Committee issues a Certificate of Validity. If that is produced, then alone the employment can continue otherwise it must come to an end. If somebody who has secured appointment against a reserved seat, does not comply with the law by undergoing scrutiny and verification of his/her claim and producing the Certificate of Validity, he/she must be visited with such penalty as the law and the applicable service Rules provide for. The High Court and even the Supreme Court have firmly taken this stance to oust the ineligible employees, but successive Governments have shown reluctance in terminating the services of such staffers.