BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Issuance and Verification) of Caste Certificate Bill-2011 was cleared by the group of ministers (GoM) on Saturday. Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei told mediapersons after the meeting that there was unanimity at the meeting. He said the Bill would be placed in the next Cabinet meeting before being tabled in the Monsoon Session of the Assembly. The Cabinet had sent the Bill back to the GoM for reconsideration as ministers differed over the proposed punishment for MPs and MLAs in case any caste certificate issued by them turned out to be fake. The Cabinet, which met last week, expanded the number of members in the GoM from three to seven. As per the Bill, any competent authority found guilty of issuing a fake certificate will be liable to rigorous imprisonment for six months, which may be extended to two years, or will be imposed a fine from ` 2,000 to ` 20,000 or both. Besides the MPs and MLAs, the competent authorities include revenue officials in the rank of tehasildars. Many ministers argued that as the MLAs have no mechanism for verification of caste of a person, they should be spared from punishment. However, the GoM reached a conclusion that there could not be separate punishment for similar offence. If the officials are being held liable for the offence of issuing fake certificates as per provision of the Bill, the same should be applied to MLAs also, the GoM observed. The State Government mooted the Bill in the wake of the rising resentment among tribal population who alleged that people belonging to other castes hijack benefits by producing fake caste certificates. Fake caste certificate was one of the factors that fuelled the ethno-communal violence in Kandhamal in 2008, said the officials at the SC-ST, OBC and Minorities Development Department. A majority of the MLAs do not want to get entangled in a criminal case and want their names to be taken off the list of competent authority. MLAs and MPs are empowered to issue caste certificates for educational purposes. The issue had also cropped up several times in the Assembly with MLAs cutting across party lines demanding a solution.
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