SC Commission directs government to launch a campaign to detect fake SC Certificates

Chandigarh, April 7, 2015: The Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes today issued a order to Punjab Government to submit report regarding detection and cancellation of fake Scheduled Castes certificates issued by some authorities to ineligible people, who were robbing the benefits of eligible poor Scheduled Castes candidates.

In a review meeting the Commission headed by Chairman Rajesh Bagha today reviewed the progress of the department in this campaign and expressed concern that the department was moving at a snail’s pace in this drive and in the process the interests of eligible Scheduled Castes candidates were being compromised. Asking the department to strictly move according to the rule book and judgments of Supreme Court on this issue, Bagha said that authorities issuing SC certificates to ineligible candidates should be held accountable and it should be made clear to the authorities that if it was found that they have deliberately ignored the guidelines to issue certificates to ineligible candidates, it should be recorded in their service record.

Asking the welfare department to launch a campaign to detect fake SC certificates on war footing and cancel them with due process of law, the Chairman said that direction should be issued to all Deputy Commissioners to organise special camps for detecting fake certificates. He also advised the department to involve general public in this mass campaign so that people should themselves come forward to report cases of fake SC certificates to the knowledge of government. He also advised the government to look into the probability of setting up a 24 hour helpline in which general public keeping their anonymity could report such cases without fear.

Seeking district wise reports, Bagha directed the welfare department to submit complete district wise report regarding fake certificates to the commission within 90 days.