Mandatory caste validity certificate stumps students

PUNE: Till the last year, caste validity certificate could be submitted by students after getting admission in their respective courses. But this year, the caste validity certificate has been made compulsory even at the time of registration for the admission process.



This has led to unnecessary tension among students as getting a caste validity certificate is a long-drawn process with pendency that can go up to months. Students seeking admission through the reserved quota have to produce the certificate.

A caste certificate simply states one’s caste while a caste validity certificate validates the caste certificate. For this certificate, along with the caste certificate, many other documents are required and one has to finally appear in front of the caste scrutiny committee. This certificate is a must for getting benefits of reservation in educational institutes and government jobs.

Vidyavathal Annapragada, founder of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, said, “Till last year, registration and allotment would be done based on caste certificates. Then, once a college was allotted to the student, he would have to produce the validity certificate. Even if the student was unable to produce the caste validity certificate at the time of the admission, he or she would be given time to produce the certificate as even officials knew that this would take time.”

R Nandanwar, joint director, technical education, Pune division, said, “The decision to make caste validity compulsory was taken by the government. We have forwarded the representation by students asking for some leeway and it is up to the government to take a decision. Till last year, students could submit proforma H which was an undertaking saying that they will submit the validity certificate by September 31. But now that has been done away with and only the government can take a decision about this.”

The student leader also pointed out that since the government did not make it known in schools and colleges about the new clause making a caste validity certificate a must, many students are going through a harrowing time as the online registration system is not accepting their forms without uploading the caste validity certificate.

Wadgaonsheri-based student Karan Jadhav, said, “When I looked up the website for admissions for engineering, it was written that a caste validity certificate will be required. I enquired about the process at the citizens service kiosk in my area and I was told that the process will take at least 8 to 15 days. If I do not get the certificate in time, I may have to give up admission under the quota and apply through the open category.”

Akshay Kasbe, a commerce graduate, who wants to apply for an MBA is facing the same problem. “I have a caste certificate. But the caste validity certificate is only given to students of science. To get a caste validity certificate, we need to get a covering letter from the college stating the need to get a caste validity certificate. June 21 is the last date for applying online and without the caste validity certificate, I cannot submit my online form for registration,” he said.