'Big problem': Supreme Court orders probe into Tamil Nadu caste certificates, suspects 'huge racket'

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition related to the issue ST status certificates to individuals claiming to be members of the Hindu Konda Reddis community.

Suspecting the prevalence of a "huge racket" in issuing caste certificates in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court ordered an extensive inquiry into the exercise of granting ST status certificates to individuals claiming to be members of the Hindu Konda Reddis community.

In an interim order issued on February 25, uploaded on Monday, the Supreme Court bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan noted: "Caste certificate seems to be a big big problem in the State of Tamil Nadu. It appears that thousands of such certificates have been issued certifying people to be members of the Hindu Konda Reddis Community falling within Scheduled Tribe…For the present, we do not level any allegations but prima facie it appears to be a huge racket. This is something extremely dangerous."

The bench further observed that it would like to ascertain whether the caste certificates issued were genuine or not. "We would also like to know in what manner such caste certificates have been procured by thousands of people in the area," the bench added.

The bench was hearing an appeal against an April 22, 2019 Madras High Court order which asked the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Mettur Dam, Salem district, to issue a community certificate to the son of the petitioner. However, the court also directed that her community certificate along with those of her brother, sister, close relatives and son be referred “to the State Level Scrutiny Committee for verification of the genuineness of the same.”

The petitioner Pradeepa claimed to belong to the Hindu Konda Reddis Community, a Scheduled Tribe. She applied for a caste certificate for her son but was declined the same after an inquiry undertaken by the RDO following which she approached the Madras High Court.

The Supreme Court had on November 22, 2019, stayed the operation of the HC order.

“We are conscious of the fact that the State has been able to obtain an interim order by which the operation of the impugned judgment has been stayed. However, we modify the order to the extent that let the State Level Scrutiny Committee undertake an extensive inquiry into this issue at the earliest and file its report before us to enable us to proceed further in the matter. We direct the State Level Scrutiny Committee to undertake this exercise at the earliest and file its appropriate report within six weeks from today without fail,” the top court noted, adding that the bench shall proceed with looking into each of the petitions independently only after it receives the report.