New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused
to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to all state
governments and union territories to verify the authenticity
of caste certificates of their Schedule Tribe employees.
A bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia declined
to pass any order on the PIL asked the petitioner to approach
High Courts of the states on this issue.
The petition was filed by All India Adivasi Employees
Federation which alleged many people have managed to get
government jobs on the basis of fake caste certificates and a
proper inquiry is needed to verify their authenticity.
Advocate Anil Kumar, appearing for the Federation,
submitted governments have not complied with the guidelines
framed by the apex court in 1995 for issuing caste
certificates.
"In a random check of caste certificates, CBI found 30
percent holder of fraudulent ST certificates in central
government. In Maharashtra, 55 percent of certificates
scrutinized were found invalid," he said adding the benefit of
a reserved seat in education and employment to an impostor is
a fraud on the Constitution.
"CBI team verified only a sample of 235 caste
certificates. 106 were genuine while 77 (33 percent) were
found to be forged/false," he said adding the Centre has
"failed" to make uniform rules for issuance and verification
of caste certificates as asked by the apex court earlier.
The court, however, was not convinced with his
arguments and asked him to approach the High Courts.
PTI
