7-member panel to simplify caste certificate process in C'garh

The Chhattisgarh government on Friday constituted a seven-member committee to simplify the process of issuing caste certificates, an official said.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the state Vigilance and Monitoring Committee chaired by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at Mantralaya here, a public relation official said.

The committee, headed by senior Congress MLA Rampukar Singh, will study the caste certificate issuance process for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities and would also visit neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha to study the process there, he said.

The committee members are BJP MLAs Nankiram Kanwar and Punnulal Mohile, Congress MLAs Manoj Mandavi and Bhuneshwar Baghel along with Secretary and Director of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe Department, he said.

It will give its report in three months, he informed.

In the meeting, CM Baghel said the committee, while visiting Jharkhand and Odisha, will also collect information from communities there apart from the government, the official said.

Baghel told officials to speed up the verification of caste certificates, and to take strict action against those joining jobs using fake certificates.

In the meeting, cases filed under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the state were also reviewed, he added.