Delay in verifying community certificates? Madras HC directs scrutiny committee to file report on pending cases

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu State Level Scrutiny Committee II of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department to file a report regarding cases pending before the committee, in two weeks.

A bench comprising Justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by R Chandrasekar, a retired bank employee, against the committee's finding that his community certificate is not genuine.

Chandrasekar submitted in his petition that he belongs to the Kattunayakan community, which is a Scheduled Tribe community. In 2012, the deputy general manager of the nationalised bank in which he was working asked the then Collector of Thanjavur to verify the genuineness of his community certificate. While forwarding the matter to the aforesaid committee, the Collector said the records relating to issuance of community certificate to Chandrasekar had been destroyed, and recommended cancellation of the certificate.

The committee in turn referred the issue to the vigilance cell. "I came to know about the developments only when the vigilance inquiry was held in 2019," Chandrasekar said. The vigilance cell submitted its report on April 9, and the committee passed an order on June 17, saying his community certificate was not genuine, without even providing him a copy of the vigilance report, Chandrasekar alleged, and challenged the committee's order.

Noting the delay in completing the inquiry, the judges directed the committee to file a report containing the list of cases pending before it, along with year-wise breakup, and adjourned the case for two weeks.

When contacted by TNIE, State general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Government SC/ST Employees Welfare Association KBG Thilagar said many SC/ST people face similar issues but the association does not have the exact data. "When such aggrieved persons approach us, we guide them," he added. The committee is the final authority and the only remedy to challenge the committee's decision is to move the court, he further said.