Kolkata, Aug 18 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered an interim stay on the recent notification by the West Bengal government regarding the verification of caste certificates issued in the state.
A division bench of Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Atarup Banerjee said that the interim stay on the state government’s notification issued on May 14 regarding verification of caste certificates in the state will remain in place until the court disposes of the case or issues further orders.
In the May 14 notification, the state government had said that all certificates issued to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) since 2011 will be verified, and if any certificate is found to be fake, it will be cancelled.
The new state government took the decision amid several complaints of fake caste certificates being issued rampantly during the 15-year Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime from 2011 to 2026.
Thereafter, a public interest litigation was filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging the state’s notification, where the petitioner claimed that the state did not have such powers to cancel the certificates.
According to the petitioner, at least several people who received caste certificates during the period will be victims of this state’s move, as many of their names are currently under review in the special intensive revision (SIR) tribunal.
The petitioner also claimed that the state’s decision was one-sided and against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Identification Act, 1994. It was further claimed in the petition that such “discriminatory” behaviour without any allegation of fraud and evidence was also against Articles 14, 15(4), 16(4) and 21 of the Constitution.
The petitioner also informed the court that it made a plea to the state government on June 4 to reconsider their directive. However, since the plea generated no response, the petitioner approached the Calcutta High Court in the matter.
During the hearing in the matter on Tuesday, Advocate General Surjit Nath Mitra argued that the state government can take such a decision by verifying voter cards, Aadhaar cards and other documents, and caste certificates.
However, his argument did not yield any result as the division bench finally ordered an interim stay on the notification for verification of caste certificates till further order or till the time the court would dispose of the case.
However, the division bench observed that if any complaint is received by the state government about fake caste certificates, the district officials will be able to verify it and take a decision based on the merits of that complaint.
–IANS
src/vd
