Overview
- The Backward Classes Welfare Department's May 14 order to district magistrates launches a statewide re-check of caste certificates issued since 2011.
- Officials say the exercise covers about 1.69 crore documents, including roughly 1 crore SC, 21 lakh ST and 48 lakh OBC certificates, with 47.8 lakh processed through Duare Sarkar camps.
- Issuing authorities must also re-verify linked second-generation certificates under current rules, with cancellations possible and personal liability warned for officers who cleared improper papers.
- Certificates held by people whose names were deleted in the recent Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls will face fresh scrutiny that may lead to cancellation after due process.
- The push follows Minister Kshudiram Tudu’s claim of widespread fake papers under the TMC government, plus a May 2024 Calcutta High Court ruling voiding OBC certificates issued since 2010 and an NCBC move dropping 35 castes from the central OBC list.