Railways fear delays in verifying staff caste claims

The Railway Commission said that under the false/fake caste certificate (the case may be ST/ST/OBC), the illegal appointment of an employee will restore him/her to the original appointed status in the service. File | Image source: Hindu

Indian Railways worry about excessive delays in verifying the authenticity of the scheduled caste/reserved tribe/other backward class employee certificates.

In the notes sent to the general manager of all regional railway/production departments, the Railway Commission is “very serious” in cases of false/fake caste certificates found after employees retire. In some cases, the forged caste claims are revealed after the employee retires.

Reiterating its earlier instructions that the SC/ST/OBC certificates of employees should be verified and confirmed with the competent authority in the relative State Governments within one month of the staff joining service, the railways referred to a Supreme Court ruling which held that the admission or appointment wrongly obtained on the basis of false social status certificate necessary had the effect of depriving the geneuine SC/ST/OBC candidates of the benefits expressed on them by the Constitution.

Railway mentioned a recent case when his caste certificate was fake and an official who had an employee joined the organization was promoted to a Group A official. As the employee is a gazetted official and on the verge of retirement, the railway commission’s advice on the termination of employee services is sought.

In clarifying the issue, the Railway Commission said that illegal appointment of an employee under a false/false caste certificate (the case may be ST/ST/OBC) will restore him/her to the status of the initial appointment in the service and therefore, the necessary actions to terminate the service shall be granted by the respective authorization of the initial appointment level.

Start verification within one week

The Railway Commission referred to the order from the Department of Personnel and Training and stated that the process of verifying the employee’s caste certificate should be immediately started and communications issued by the State/United Territory Authority within one week of joining the government service. If verification is not received within one month from the district level review board, the matter should be upgraded to the highest level to ensure that the process is completed within six months.

Instructions were provided to the General Manager to mention the appointment of the employee in the work fare were temporary and subject to a caste certificate verified through appropriate channels. If verification indicates that the claim is wrong, the service will be terminated without specifying any reason and there will be no prejudice to take further action under the law.