TENKASI: People belonging to the Kuravar community alleged that revenue officials are issuing community certificates in the name of their caste to people belonging to other communities. They expressed dissatisfaction and said their reservation rights are being snatched by doing so.
Members of the Hindu Kuravar Samuthaya Committee led by its President S Thangavelu petitioned the District Collector S Gopala Sundararaj on Monday demanding action against the former Tahsildar of Kadayanallur Athinarayanan, and Village Administrative Officer (VAO) of Puliyangudi Balasubramanian.
Thangavelu said, "Around 67 people of Pachaikaarar and Gangkaarar caste residing in Puliyangudi submitted an application with the VAO seeking a community certificate in the name of Kuravar community which has been listed as Scheduled Caste. Even though the VAO knows that these applicants are not from the Kuravar community, he forwarded their applications to the Tahsildar who further issued 'Kuravar community certificate' to them.”
State President of Vana Vengaikal Katchi P M Eranian said his field visit to Puliyangudi revealed that the revenue officials had issued SC certificates in the name of Kuravar to people belonging to non-SC caste by receiving kickbacks. "We verified the address of some applicants who received Kuravar community certificates and found out that some of them belong to Most Backward Communities. This happens in several places in Tamil Nadu. The district administration should act against the corrupt officials who are shaking the fundamentals of the reservation system and cancel the illegally-issued community certificates," he demanded.
When contacted, Aravind who recently took charge as Tahsildar of Kadayanallur told TNIE that he would conduct an inquiry. Another revenue official, seeking anonymity, said, both the VAO and Revenue Inspector had not done the field verification in Puliyangudi before forwarding their application to the Tahsildar.