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Verify caste certificates while hiring: Parliament panel
The panel’s suggestions came following Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad’s claims that both ministries and public offices have withheld pension benefits for as many as 136 SC, STs.
Ministries and public enterprises must end the practice of verifying caste certificates at the end of one’s career to enable smooth disbursal of pension benefits, a House panel has suggested.
Presenting a report in this regard on Tuesday, Parliament’s committee on welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) said it has “strongly recommended” the department of personnel and training to issue guidelines “whereby the caste certificate of an employee is verified within six months of his joining.” “If the organisation carries out the verification process immediately at the time of joining, then no person can gain employment on the basis of a false caste certificate,” the panel, headed by BJP’s Kirit Solanki, told Parliament.
“The committee has observed that presently, the verification of caste certificate starts at the fag end of the career of the employee. Withholding pension benefits is gross harassment for the employee, both mentally and physically,” the panel added.
The panel’s suggestions came following Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad’s claims that both ministries and public offices have withheld pension benefits for as many as 136 SC, STs. Of these, seven died while waiting for their benefits, it said.
