The Calcutta High Court directed the Secretary, the Backward Classes Welfare Department to immediately issue appropriate circulars to all the District Magistrates to cause appropriate verification of the caste certificates which have been issued more particularly which have been issued in the recent past and a standard operating procedure be devised at the State level and communicate to the District Magistrate and the District Magistrate shall direct the appropriate authority to conduct proper investigation of the genuineness of the caste certificate issued and a detailed report be filed by the Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare Department before the court on the next hearing date.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting a very serious issue where fraudulent caste certificates have been given rampantly by several SubDivisional Officers in various districts in the State of West Bengal certifying people belonging to other communities as belonging to a Scheduled Caste community.
The matter has been brought to the attention of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, Government of India who has taken up the matter and appropriate recommendations have been made to the State authorities.
The Court noted that only one of the District Magistrates has taken serious note of the same, namely, the District Magistrate, Paschim Bardhaman and has taken up the matter seriously and issued direction to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Asansol Sadar. The said SubDivisional Officer thereupon took up the matter for verification and by the order dated 04.05.2023 has cancelled the caste certificates given to two persons.. It is not clear to the Court as to what has happened to the other certificates which are alleged to have been fraudulent certificates which have been pointed out in the representation dated 07.09.2022 mentioning the names of 17 persons.
The counsel for the respondent State would submit that the District Magistrate, Paschim Bardhaman and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Asansol Sadar have been made parties to the petition.
“In our view, the State cannot take such a stand more particularly when the issues which have been highlighted with regard to fraudulent certificates which also was taken up by the National Commission and ultimately it has been found that at least two out of the 17 people in that particular district have fraudulently obtained the certificates. Therefore, the issues which have been highlighted in the writ petition is only “the tip of the iceberg” and therefore, the State Government should be pro-active in this matter because several benefits flow from issuance of caste certificate to a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe community. Therefore, the officer concerned should act in a more responsible manner.”
Therefore the Court directed the Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare Department shall also issue a circular to warning the Divisional Officers that if it is found that any fake certificates are issued by any of the officers, they will be held personally liable and disciplinary as well as criminal action will be initiated against them. Matter is listed on 22nd January, 2024 for further hearing.