\State Government has no intention of removing holders of false caste certificate. Employees of Koshti caste are the biggest group of such offenders and they are still protected through Circular of 3rd June 2020, said legal consultant Farji Hatao Integrated Legal Campaign B K Manish.
Raipur, Dec 7
The General Administration Department (GAD), Chhattisgarh Government, has sought status report on employees/officials working in the government departments on the basis of false caste certificates of SC, ST and OBC and action, so far, taken against them, within seven days from the date of issuance of this order. The order was issued on December 5, 2020.
Besides, the GAD also asked the department to submit the report to the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development Department of the state government. The GAD Secretary Dr Kamalpreet Singh has also asked all the departments to take care of legal aspects of the cases while taking action against employees/officials working in the basis of false caste certificates/documents.
The GAD Secretary reminded the departments that an order had already been issued with recommendation to end services of those government servants, who have been found guilty of using false caste certificates of SC/ST/OBC by the High Power Scrutiny Committee of the State Government. The GAD had asked to take action while complying with its rules and inform the GAD and SC, ST Development Department. Such government should be immediately separated from their posts, the GAD had asked the departments.
If necessary, the High Court of Chhattisgarh should be approached through the Advocate General of Chhattisgarh for hearing of false caste certificate cases. The false caste certificate cases, which have no stay order of HC, should be immediately rejected and government servants in these cases should be sacked with immediate effect, the GAD order said.
Meanwhile, the GAD has mentioned in the order that the Administrative Department should file a caveat in the High Court before the order regarding service termination of a government servant is issued. The false certificate cases, which have obtained the stay of the High Court, should be reviewed by the Legal Department of the state government and subsequently Administrative Department should take prompt action towards withdrawal of stay order. The GAD has also attached the list of government servants working using unfair means.
Meanwhile, the GAD order did not go down well with Farji Hatao Integrated Legal Campaign. The consultant of the Campaign and former legal advisor to Sarv Adivasi Samaj, B K Manish, said that the issue is that the State government, GAD in particular, is behaving like a two-faced fraudster. On one hand, it proclaims to be pushing removal from service of the holders of false caste certificate on the other hand it continues withheld protection accorded to largest segment of them belonging to Koshti caste.
There is a circular protecting the services in clear terms of all such people whose caste certificate is invalidated by the High Power Scrutiny Committee. This circular was issued on June 3, 2020 upon approval of non less than the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, he said.
Koshti is considered a special backward class and they basically hail from Maharastra but they have settled in neighbouring districts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as well. They procured false caste certificate claiming to belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe. Koshtis are essentially SC in Maharashtra. The scrutiny Committee of State government has found 267 government servants working on false caste certificates and 2/3rd of them belong to Koshti, he said.
“State Government has no intention of removing holders of false caste certificate. Employees of Koshti caste are biggest group of such offenders and they are still protected through Circular of 3rd June 2020. It’s a wide ranging conspiracy which includes Secretary rank officials from Tribal, Law and General Administration Departments of the period 2010 up to today. At least 6 senior officials have lied in writing to protect Koshti employees. Former AG J K Gilda, current Addl AG Fauzia Mirza, R S Sharma and N K Chandrawanshi from Law Department and Richa Sharma, Dr Kamalpreet Singh of GAD can go to jail for 10 years for this. Certified copies of Note Sheet is available with us showing their complicity,” claimed B K Manish.
