SALEM: Six persons including a medical college student and a government staffer were booked for allegedly faking ST community certificates on Friday.
The alleged forgery came to light when revenue officials conducted an inquiry following several petitions at the Madras High Court. The pleas were filed separately by R Suseela and S Jayanthi, both residents of Kolathur, seeking ST community certificates for their children claiming that they were part of the Konda Reddi community.
After the court directed the district administration to look into the matter, revenue officials found that the documents were allegedly faked. While Suseela’s community certificate did not match government records, Jayanthi had allegedly produced a fake ST certificate to secure a medical seat for her daughter. Meanwhile, V Saranya, a resident of Thokkanampatti, allegedly created a fake ST certificate to secure a government job. Based on complaints from VAOs, the Salem rural police filed cases against the women and their family members.
Meanwhile, members of the community claim that they were wrongfully denied community certificates by revenue officials as they were mistaken for the Reddiar community, who belong to the BC category. Speaking to Express, Sanjeev of Kolathur Block Konda Reddis Welfare Association said that the community members had been denied ST certificates since 1989. "Tahsildars issued the certificates until 1989, after which the power was transferred to RDOs. Since then, revenue officials who come for field inspection, mistake us for the Reddi community,” he said, adding that Kondi Reddi people live in Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Tirunelveli districts. Around 100 people from the community have also planned to contest in the Mettur Assembly constituency to highlight the issue, out of which 38 have filed their nominations so far.
As the certificates were denied to the community, the members had to approach the Madras HC. "Since 1989, ST community certificates have been issued to only 42 persons after approaching court,” he said. In 2019, although the court had ordered the issue of community certificates for 38 people, the revenue department has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against that High Court order, he added. “The certificates were not faked. They were issued by revenue officials only."