Forged caste certificate: MoUD employee gets three years jail

A local court today sentenced an employee of Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to three years of imprisonment for securing job on basis of a forged scheduled tribe (ST) certificate three decades ago.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kuldeep Narayan also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on convict Chander Dev Mehto, who was working as a peon in the Directorate of Estates (MoUD).
The court said Mehto had obtained the job using a forged caste certificate, claiming himself to be of Kharia tribe, a recognised scheduled tribe in Bihar, though he belonged to Nonia caste.
It held Mehto guilty of cheating and forgery saying he caused wrongful gain to himself and wrongful loss to the state exchequer and tried to unsettle the entire Constitutional scheme for "uplifting and integration of the disadvantaged section of the society in the mainstream".

"The scheduled tribes, who have been kept away from the mainstreams of national life in accordance with their traditional moorings and customary beliefs and practices, have been accorded equality before law and the equal protection of law," the court said, while sentencing Mehto.
A case was registered by CBI in 2005 against Mehto. It was alleged that he had obtained employment in 1983 on the basis of a ST certificate, purportedly issued by Siwan district magistrate in April 1980.

However, during investigation it came to light that the certificate was not issued by the DM office and it was a forged one.

Mehto sought leniency saying he was just 16-year-old when he was handed over the caste certificate by his father and there was no intention on his part to get a job by using the fake caste certificate.
The CBI opposed his plea saying he had deprived a genuine candidate who might have obtained appointment in his place.
The court, however, took a lenient view in sentencing, considering his poor financial and family background and his conduct throughout the trial.