Agartala, July 18: The large number of fake Scheduled Caste certificates being used by government employees and students has created a fresh headache for the Tripura government.

Jobs in government departments, the only viable source of employment in Tripura, have been gradually shrinking over the years. But many job-seekers have procured fake Scheduled Caste certificates for cornering jobs in the reserved category.

Many students, who have also procured such certificates, have already completed higher studies in engineering and medical colleges as part of the quota of the state government for students belonging to the reserved category.

Sources in the Scheduled Caste Corporation said during the 2002-03 financial year, 703 cases of people working in various government departments with fake SC certificates came to the notice of the authorities.

Many of the fake certificate holders are still in government service and a number of such students are pursuing studies in institutions of higher education.

Sources said of the 703 cases, 133 have been discharged from government service, 70 fake certificates have been declared annulled while 16 others have surrendered the certificates they had earlier obtained by dubious means.

“Proceedings are going on against altogether 484 fake certificate holders as part of investigations,” a source said, adding that there were committees at the subdivisional level to scrutinise SC certificates issued by various authorities.

In case any complaint regarding the validity of the certificate issued was raised, the matter was investigated by a committee headed by the secretary of the Scheduled Caste welfare department.

Sources said among the 133 fake SC certificate holders discharged from service, there were doctors and engineers who had completed their higher studies from the state government’s quota with the help of certificates obtained by dubious means earlier.

The corporation has decided to implement an action plan to prevent the issue of fake certificates. As part of this, specially constituted committees would scrutinise SC and ST certificates submitted by students at the school level. The state government gives special stipends to school students belonging to the SC and ST categories and once the racket is exposed at the school level future trouble would be pre-empted, sources said.