Will lack of community certificate kill the college dreams of this student from the Kattunayakar community?

TENKASI: A girl belonging to the Kattunayakar community was denied admission in a private college after revenue officials refused to give her a community certificate, stating that she had been unable to submit details about the culture and traditions of her ancestors, going back three generations.

Sources said that the girl, Jayalakshmi from Alwarkurichi, was denied admission for BSc Physics in a private college in the locality despite scoring 480 marks (80 per cent) in the class 12 examination.

Jayalakshmi told The New Indian Express that she could be the first graduate from her community in the town, if the revenue officials gave her a community certificate. "However, it seems my dream will be shattered as the officials are refusing to give me a certificate. We are fed up with having to explain about ourselves. Revenue officials are not ready to listen to us," she said. 

The girl's father, Sankar, said that his daughter is a fourth generation member of his community in the town. "Initially, our ancestors begged for food. Then, they began rearing pigs. At present, we are collecting plastic and metal wastes and selling them to earn our daily bread. We clearly explained all this to the revenue officials," he said.

Ponnusamy, a 70-year-old man belonging to Kattunayakar community, said that even he had faced the issue during his school days. "Me, my children, my father and grandfather are based in the town. I completed Class IX. People of our community in Ambasamudram, Pettai and Mukkudal of Tirunelveli district and some places in Thoothukudi district have obtained community certificates. But why is it being denied to us?" he asked.

Another member of the community, Palani Arun Selvam, said that he had to join a self-financing diploma course at a private polytechnic college in Cheranmahadevi and pay Rs 50,000 as fees even though he is eligible for a free seat under the government quota. "So, my parents have to collect waste for extra hours to meet my expenses," he rued.

When contacted, Collector S Gopala Sundararaj and Tenkasi Tahsildar Subbaian asked The New Indian Express to contact Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Tenkasi Ramachandran, stating that he is the competent authority to issue ST certificates.

Ramachandran said that he had rejected Jayalakshmi's request for a community certificate as she did not have enough evidence to prove her identity.

"We do not have a record of their ancestors' stay in Alwarkurichi. If the parents belong to two different castes, we cannot issue a certificate. DVAC is conducting an inquiry into an incident in which an ST certificate was issued without enough evidence. Also, there is a court judgment stating that we should not issue a certificate to the applicants based on their father's Transfer Certificate in which there is a mention about their caste," he claimed.

However, he would not share details of the case being investigated by the DVAC, nor of the court judgment. He also did not seem to be aware of a recent State government order which stated that children born of an inter-caste marriage could be considered as belonging to the caste of the father or the mother.