Many Scheduled Tribes (ST) personnel denied pension and retirement benefits

Several Scheduled Tribes personnel at the Centre have had their retirement benefits postponed pending the Tamil Nadu government's certification of their caste certificates. For the same reason, scores of employees' promotions have been halted. Employees, notably those who claimed to be from the Kattu Naicker and Malaikuravan communities, are at problem.

According to sources, the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, has written to the Chief Secretaries of all States/Union Territories, stating that pensionary benefits of employees working in various offices and organisations under the Central Government in Tamil Nadu have been withheld because caste verification from the State Government was pending.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC & ST) took this seriously and asked the Department of Transportation to give required recommendations to all parties involved in the timely verification of certificates.

The DoPT pointed out that the responsibility for the issue and verification of caste certificates lies with the State/Union Territory Government concerned, citing detailed guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for effective verification so that no person may secure employment in the government on the basis of a fake certificate.

Despite the fact that the Department of Transportation had issued various guidelines from time to time to streamline the verification process and requested timely verification from state/union territory governments, the appointing authority had taken "an unduly long time in getting the caste status verified by the concerned State authorities, which is completely in violation of the existing instructions."