Kolkata: In what could lead to a major upheaval in West Bengal, the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government in the state has asked district magistrates to conduct an extensive administrative audit of all caste certificates issued to 1.69 crore individuals belonging to SC/ST/OBC communities since 2011.
There have been complaints and allegations from various quarters about the distribution of caste certificates to ineligible applicants over the years.
The secretary of the Backward Classes Welfare (BCW) department signed the order on Thursday, pointedly mentioning concerns within the government regarding the validity of the database maintained, as reported by Zee News.
There was a rush to distribute the said certificates prior to the West Bengal Assembly polls held in early 2021, sources said. Post the introduction of the Duare Sarkar (Government at Your Doorstep) scheme towards the latter half of 2020, the usual verification process was overlooked to dispose of pending applications at once, it has been claimed by many.
“Using the metrics provided by the BCW department, it is estimated that around 47.8 lakh caste certificates have been distributed based on applications received through the localised ‘Duare Sarkar’ camps,” a state source noted.
While 32.51 lakh SC certificates were issued, 8.64 lakh went to so-called OBCs. As many as 6.65 lakh ST certificates were also issued over the last six-odd years.
“Allegations of providing certificates to undeserving candidates were rampant after the senior leadership of the administration instructed the SDOs to grant caste certificates based on the ‘Duare Sarkar’ applications in haste,” an official told the channel.
Due to the lack of proper inspection and field verifications owing to the massive administrative pressure from the state secretariat, many ineligible applicants managed to obtain a legal caste identity.
The situation took a turn for the worse after the administration started verifying the “second generation” caste certificates that provided automatic reserved status to dependents without any scrutiny whatsoever. This practice created great concern in the state’s SC/ST/OBC communities, which feared that the presence of thousands of fraudulent certificate holders would erode their constitutionally guaranteed rights, denying them access to reservation opportunities in jobs and education.
Consequently, the distribution of these certificates has changed West Bengal’s politics substantially, especially within the Jungle Mahal area where many tribes live. Thanks to this, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was able to capitalize on the resentment of the tribes against the quota dilution and win a clear majority of legislative seats in the region.
The new mandate set by the BCW department mandates several punitive measures, in order to combat such instances of systemic abuse.
Electoral roll cross-checking: Caste certificates that have been granted to persons whose names have been struck off the state electoral rolls as part of the SIR operation completed recently shall be subjected to immediate scrutiny and possible cancellation.
Personal liability: The state government has warned its bureaucrats in very strong terms that any future leniency and lack of stringent enforcement in the re-verification procedure would fix personal liability on the SDO who issued such caste certificates. the department for caste-wise categorisation.
“You are aware that around 1.69 crore caste certificates have been issued since 2011… Now, it has been observed that the authenticity and genuineness of some Caste Certificates issued since 2011 have been challenged by different quarters,” the order states.
