Balangir: An additional tehsildar was allegedly manhandled by some local people in protest against delay in issuing caste certificate to a youth in Odisha’s Balangir district on Tuesday.
According to sources, Bikas Meher of Satighat village under Deogaon block in the district had applied for a caste certificate in the tehsil office. But the tehsil office did not issue the certificate citing legal problems.
Bikas claimed that he had applied for the certificate twice but the tehsil office rejected his applications on the ground that Additional Tehsildar Samkesh Nayak had kept the matter on hold due to legal formalities.
When Bikas was turned back by the tehsil office on the day again, he went to the village and told the villagers about the matter. Agitated over the issue, some villagers went to the tehsil office and gheraoed the additional tehsildar.
While demanding to know the reason for the inordinate delay in issuing the caste certificate, which was necessary for availing several welfare schemes of the government, they reportedly manhandled Nayak.
Speaking to the agitated gathering, Nayak admitted that he had held up the application to go through the legal procedures.
He explained that the applicant had sought scheduled tribe certificate from the office. But Nayak had doubts about the caste of Kuli and Kulis as the Supreme Court had stated in 2018 that both were same. On the other hand, Gazette notification of 2024 has mentioned Kuli and ignored Kulis.
The additional tehsildar said he had sought clarification from the collectorate and was yet to get any response which has led to delay in issuing the caste certificate to Bikash.
