Three of family bagged govt jobs on fake SC certificates, bares probe

Karam Prakash

Patiala, November 5

The Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, Punjab, has found that a Sub-Divisional Officer, a clerk and a retired Superintending Engineer (SE) had got their jobs in different departments by using fake Scheduled Caste (SC) category certificates.

All three are said to be of the same family, which belongs to the general category as per the record. The vigilance cell of the department, after a due inquiry, has already recommended to the government to cancel their SC certificates.

Govt to take action

We have recommended to the state government to cancel the Scheduled Caste certificates of all three. Further action will be taken by the government. —TK Goyal, Director, Social justice, Empowerment & Minorities

As per the inquiry report, a copy of which is with The Tribune, retired Superintending Engineer of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) of Kauli village in Kauli block of Patiala district belonged to the Rajput caste, which is not in the SC category list of Punjab.

The other two employees, an Sub-Divisional Officer in the Punjab Mandi Board and a clerk at Punjabi University, Patiala, are the son and daughter of the retired Superintending Engineer, respectively.

Invoking the revenue records, report revealed that Superintending Engineer belonged to the Rajput caste. The inquiry committee concluded that since SE belonged to Rajput caste, therefore, both his kids would also naturally be of the same caste.

TK Goyal, Director, Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, said, “We have recommended to the government to cancel the Scheduled Caste certificates of all three. The next action would be taken by the government.”

Ironically, this case in Kauli block of Patiala is not a one-off the cases of fake certificates. On earlier occasions as well, similar cases of fake SC certificates have been found in Kauli block.

Questioned about the multiple cases of fake SC certificates in the Kauli block of Patiala district, TK Goyal said he would look into the matter to find out the reason.

Meanwhile, the Sub-Divisional Officer, while talking to The Tribune, said, “The inquiry is still under the process. We have yet to submit records to the committee. The complainant in the case have personal animosity against our family. Therefore, he has filed frivolous complaint.”