Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes on Tuesday directed the State Government to launch a campaign to detect fake Scheduled Castes (SC) certificates. The Commission has asked the Government to submit report regarding detection and cancellation of fake SC certificates issued by some authorities to ineligible people, who were robbing the benefits of eligible poor SC candidates.
The decision came after the Commission chairman Rajesh Bagha, in a meeting to review the progress of department in the campaign, expressed concern that the department was moving at a snail’s pace in this drive and in the process the interests of eligible SC candidates were being compromised.
Asking the department to strictly move according to the rule book and judgments of the Supreme Court on the issue, Bagha said that authorities issuing SC certificates to ineligible candidates should be held accountable.
At the same time, he said that it should be made clear to the authorities that if it was found that they have deliberately ignored 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, he 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 government's knowledge.