ISSUANCE OF CASTE CERTIFICATES

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  2. ISSUANCE OF CASTE CERTIFICATES

Introduction: The Caste Identification Certificates, popularly known as Caste certificates are required by ST people for availing benefits of reservation extended by the State as well as the Central Government in obtaining various facilities including jobs in the Government Sector. Caste certificates for ST are issued in terms of 'The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Identification) Act, 1994' and' The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Identification) Rules, 1995 framed under the Act. Simplified Guidelines for issuance of ST Certificates have been issued vide BCW Deptt. No.1203-BCW dated, 27.07.2015 followed by 1465-BCW dated 30-04-2010. In the State of West Bengal the matters of reservation are the rules of business of the BCW Department as the posts for the purpose have been created as per constitutional mandate in the BCW Department. Salient features of Caste Certificates are discussed below:

A. Procedure:

  1. Now On-line application facility has also been introduced all over the State. Application with     necessary documents for Caste certificates are made in a prescribed format. Hard copies of applications are generally received at Block Offices and at SDO Offices for Municipal areas within 60 (sixty) days from the date of filing one-line application.
  2. ST certificates (caste certificates) are issued by SDOs in all Sub- Divisions. In Kolkata, certificates are issued by District Welfare Officer, Kolkata and Ex-Officio Joint Director,
  3. There is no age bar in respect of issuance of ST certificates.
  4. ST certificates are issued in the prescribed format. All Appointing Authorities under the Central Govt. or the State Govt. are to accept the Caste certificates issued by the competent Authorities.
  5. Normally, Caste Certificate should be obtained by a person from his/her State of origin. But the Issuing Authoritycan also issue certificate where the incumbent is ordinarily residing if the father of the applicant obtains certificate from the competent authority of his State of origin and after due verification of that certificate by the Issuing Authority.
  6. Benefit of reservation can be claimed by any person in his/her State of origin only, and not in the other State. State of origin in respect of a person belonging to SC and ST is the State where he/she or his/her ancestorslived /lives since 1950.
  7. To be eligible to get a Caste Certificate, the following documents in respect of an applicant are needed:
    1. Proof of identity,
    2. Proof of residence at the present notified location,
    3. Proof of permanent residence in West Bengal,
    4. Proof of citizenship, and
    5. Proof as to belonging to a particular Caste / Community if any
  8. In case the applicant fails to produce any documentary evidence, it is the duty of the Issuing Authority to determine eligibility of the applicant on the basis of field enquiry and hearing.
  9. After receipt of an application, preliminary scrutiny is done to verify the documents. If the applicant furnishes a caste certificate of person having blood relation with him, that certificate is verified from the issuing authority, and applicant's relation with the certificate holder is confirmed. If these are found correct, caste certificate is generally issued after verifying residence and citizenship.
  10. If there is no documentary proof as to caste status, the matter is enquired. If necessary, public hearing is to be conductedfor ascertaining the caste status of the applicant.
  11. Certificate is issued only after being satisfied as to eligibility.
  12. Applications for Caste Certificates shall be disposed of within four weeks from the date of receipt of hard copy of application. The matter has been brought under the provisions of WestBengal Right to Public Service (WBRTPS) Act, 2013 and any refusal cases applicants may appeal to the Appellate Authority and the Reviewing Authority under this Act
  13. There are two kinds of Caste Certificates allegedly being fraudulently obtained by some persons. First, fake or forged caste certificates, secondly, a certificate has been obtained by an ineligible person through misrepresentation of facts and other fraudulent methods. In the first case, this has to be dealt with in terms of Criminal Laws. For the other case, SDO is the competent authority to initiate proceedings for cancellation of the certificate as per provision of the West Bengal SC and ST (Identification) Act 1994  and the West Bengal SC and ST (Identification) Rules 1995.
  14. The State Govt. has also set up a Scrutiny Committee at the State Level and Vigilance Cells in all Districts to deal with both the types of cases as mentioned above. The provisions in the constitution of the District Vigilance Cell have been amended to include an Additional District Magistrate as Chairperson of the Cell.
  15. As on 31-03-2019, 40 tribes as ST have been identified in West Bengal.
  16. The percentages of reservation in State Government Sector for ST - 6%.
  17. A provision has been included for issuance of duplicate caste certificate by an amendment.
  18. Detailed guidelines on issuance of ST certificates have been widely circulated and are available in the Departmental Website (anagrasarkalyan.gov.in).
  19. A State Scrutiny Committee has been constituted under the W.B SC and ST (Identification) Act, 1994 for verification of social status of a person in whose favour a caste certificate is issued under Section 5 of the said Act.

B. Performance:

  1. A bar diagram on issuance of ST certificates from 2011-2012 to 2018-19 is shown below. It is evident that there has been considerable improvement in the matter of issue of caste certificates during last 3(three) Financial years. Reports on certificates issued and applications pending are also annexed. It may be mentioned here that about 8,000 - 9,000 applications on an average are filed every month.

A. Pendency and action taken to reduce it: 

With reduction of time limit in disposal of applications, there has been substantial improvement in issuance of caste certificates and number of pending cases has been reduced by 50% by the end of March, 2018

C. Problems and difficulties:

  1. Demand for issue of caste certificates have been considerably increased in recent times. Pressure from different Groups is thus mounting on the SDOs and BDOs.
  2. There are attempts to obtain caste certificates through misrepresentation of facts, so a certificate issuing authority has to be reasonably cautious.
  1. Non-availability of previous records needed for verification of certificates issued to blood relations of the applicants causes delay in verifications.
  1. Acute shortage of BCW Inspectors causes delay in disposal. Fresh Applicant is not interested in this post as there is no scope of promotion for the Inspectors.
  2. Determining caste identity in few cases become difficult, as applicants cannot produce documents and enquiry also cannot conclusively determine the community status.
  3. Migration from other States, or even from other districts, often cause problem in determining a case. A migrant from other State can apply for caste certificate, but the person can get the benefit of reservation only in State of origin.

D. Action taken to improve performance:

  1. Workshops have been held in many districts to stress on the importance of this work and also to dispel confusions and doubts regarding the procedure to be adopted for quick disposal of applications for issue of caste certificates.
  2. Special camps are being organized by SDOs to dispose of pending applications. The objective of all these camps are:-
    1. Disposal of all pending applications;
    2. Receiving fresh applications:
    3. Enquiry / hearing on the spot.
  3. Online issuance of Caste Certificates has been introduced. NIC has developed the portal (castcertificatewb.gov.in)and been maintaining the software. Under this system, an applicant has the option to apply on-line for a caste certificate, can monitor the status of his application. The service has been successfully started in 55 sub-divisions. Arrangements are being made to start this programme all over the State.
  4. Arrangement for digitalization of all previous data regarding issued caste certificates has been made. This will help in instant verification of certificate of blood relation submitted as proof of caste identity.
  5. Departmental website anagrasarkalyan.gov.inhas been launched. The website contains all relevant information, procedure, guidelines, Acts, Rules, Govt. Orders etc. relating to issuance of caste certificates. Forms are also available on the website.
  6. To combat the current shortage of Inspectors, the State Government has engaged 341 additional inspectors for Blocks and 158 inspectors for municipal areas from among retired Govt. employees on contract basis. 100 more additional inspectors against regular vacancies have also been allowed to be appointed on contract.
  7. Proposal for creation of promotion channel for Inspectors and BCWOs is under consideration.
  8. Cultural Research Institute is being engaged often to make field level studies to come out with solutions in specific problems and difficulties.
  9. Several Orders and Notifications have recently been issued to guide the Certificate Issuing Authorities and also clarifying certain points.

E. Conclusion

Recent initiatives have started yielding results. A large number of pending applications have been disposed of. Now, there is hardly any application pending for more than one month. An increase in infrastructural facilities will surely bring forth better results.