Govt takes e-route to check fake caste, income certificates

The state government has taken the e-way to put a check on students who furnish fictitious caste and income certificates while seeking admission to professional courses.

The government has recently integrated the Atalji Janasnehi Kendra’s software with that of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), enabling online verification of caste and income certificates.

The KEA can access soft copies of caste and income certificates issued in any of the 900 Atalji Janasnehi Kendra across the state.

“Students who will be appearing for CET this year need not produce hard copies of caste and income certificates. Instead, they can furnish only the unique numbers assigned to each of these certificates. The move will go a long way in preventing people from hoodwinking the authorities by submitting fictitious caste and income certificates,” Atalji Janasnehi Kendra Director Munish Moudgil said.

The revenue department, under which Atalji Janasnehi Kendras (also called Nadakacheris) function, introduced online system for obtaining important documents, including caste and income certificates, issued at Atalji Kendras.

One can apply seeking these certificates and take print outs of these certificates after the approval online. The department receives close to 1 crore applications every year seeking caste and income certificates.

Residence certificate, domicile certificate, land less certificate, non-creamy-layer certificate and living certificate are some of the documents issued at Atalji Kendras.

This apart, the revenue department is now working with the social welfare department for creating a similar system: Integration of Atalji Kendra software with that of the social welfare department’s.

It will help the department to verify the authenticity of caste and income certificates furnished by the students to avail scholarships. An estimated 17 lakh students avail scholarships given by the social welfare department.

Official sources in the social welfare department said a random verification of documents conducted by the department recently in Kolar district, revealed that about 40% of income certificates submitted by the students were not valid.

In other words, validity of these certificates had expired (income certificates will be valid for five years). There is a likelihood of some students having misused the scholarship scheme. Integration of software will prevent such misuse, sources added.

Moudgil said the database of scholarships issued in 2015-16 financial year is being prepared, and it will soon be uploaded.

“We are planning to integrate our software with all departments that provide various services to people. Integrated, online system will not only make it convenient for citizens to obtain the service, but helps the government to prevent misuse of its schemes,” he added.