New Delhi, June 21: The department of personnel and training has asked state governments to issue caste and residential certificates to schoolchildren in either Class V or Class VIII.
The move, sources said, is aimed at sparing them the trouble of filing last-minute applications for documents that could ensure reservation benefits while applying for admission to higher education institutions.
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students have to produce caste certificates if they want to apply for reserved seats in government-run institutions of higher learning. Some institutions also offer a domicile quota for which students have to produce a certificate.
A DoPT official said the states had been issued instructions and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) put out on the department's website.
According to the FAQs, the SC/ST students would be issued both caste and domicile certificates while other students would be given domicile certificates. A state government can choose either Class V or Class VIII to issue these certificates and it will be the responsibility of the headmaster or the principal to collect documents filled up by applicants and submit them to the state authority concerned.
If an application is rejected, the student would be told why. The student can also file an appeal.
State officials have to conduct verifications and issue the certificates, preferably within two months. While issuing the certificates, the students' details may be linked to their Aadhaar number. This would help check fraud, the official said.
Most students now wait till Class XII to apply for the certificates and many end up taking the help of brokers.
Surendra Singh, a PhD student in Delhi University and president of the Youth for Social Justice, an organisation working for the cause of reservation, said: "Many pay bribe to get certificates and end up getting forged documents. This initiative would take care of this problem."
Educationist Ashok Agrawal also welcomed the move. "This is like a single-window system," he said.
