E-Paper
Lowest number of Kunbi documents found in Marathwada
In comparison, far more Kunbi status documents have been found in other regions of Maharashtra as per the government data
Only 23,728 Kunbi status documents have been found in Marathwada after an inspection of Nizam era documents.
In comparison, far more Kunbi status documents have been found in other regions of Maharashtra as per the government data.
This, even though the verification of Nizam era documents to establish Kunbi status for availing reservation benefits began in Marathwada.
Earlier in October-November, Maratha quota activist, Manoj Jarange-Patil, had staged a hunger protest in the Antarwali village in Jalna district.
Jarange-Patil had claimed that there are many Marathas in the Marathwada region, identified as Kunbis in Nizam era documents.
He had demanded scrutiny of Nizam era documents specifically from the Marathwada region to ascertain the Marathas’ Kunbi identity.
Jarange-Patil had said that Marathas from the rest of Maharashtra could easily get Kunbi certificates but the same did not hold true for Marathas from Marathwada.
On September 7, the state government constituted a five-member panel headed by justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde to decide the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas who were (or whose ancestors were) referred to as Kunbis in Nizam era documents.
The first meeting of the panel was held on September 11 in Mumbai during which, it was decided that a team including Urdu and Modi language experts would visit Hyderabad in order to inspect and validate Nizam era documents related to genealogy, education, revenue etc.
Accordingly, the team visited Hyderabad on September 14 and brought with it scanned copies of the Nizam era documents.
As on November 16, upon scrutiny of 19,151,408 Nizam era documents, only 23,728 Kunbi status documents were found in Marathwada, which is the lowest as compared to other regions in Maharashtra.
The highest number of Kunbi proofs were found in Amravati (1,302,885); followed by Nagpur (693,764); Nashik (470,900); Pune (261,315); and Konkan (147,529).
Across Maharashtra, a total of 89,933,281 documents were scrutinised and 2,901,121 Kunbi proofs were found.
Accordingly, the Shinde panel instructed the district administrative authorities to issue Kunbi certificates in their respective districts. Justice (retired) Shinde said, “Yes, it is true that the Marathwada region registered less Kunbi certificates than any other region. But the reasons for that will be mentioned in detail in our report.
As of now, I cannot comment on this.’’ He said he is likely to submit the detailed report to the state government by December 15.
Meanwhile, state cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) leader Prakash Shendge alleged that Marathas are tampering with Kunbi proofs. In Pune on Monday, Bhujbal said that some members of the Maratha community have forged documents to show that they are Kunbis to avail reservation benefits.
Shendge, who claimed to have found evidence of such tampering, said, “It was found that there is tampering of Kunbi proofs in old documents in order to get Kunbi certificates. We will not tolerate this.’’ He demanded that an enquiry commission be constituted to take stringent action against the authorities involved in providing such fake certificates.
