A Delhi court has awarded 5-year jail term to a man who bagged two government jobs on the basis of a fake reserved category certificate, saying he "deprived the legitimate claimant".
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Anu Aggarwal awarded punishment to Ramapati Mahto who had secured two jobs -- first at a Delhi government school and then at the Tax Department as an inspector -- by using the fake certificate.
The court said the convict "committed fraud on the Constitution and also on the State Policy" and slapped a Rs 75,000 fine on him.
Mahto's Scheduled Tribes certificate, issued on January 28, 1985, was found to be fake during inquiry.
"The convict committed fraud on the Constitution and also on the State Policy. He deprived the legitimate claimant of not only of the post of Income Tax Inspector but also all the benefits arising therein," the court said, adding that "the convict deserves no leniency."
The court said that reservations in government jobs to ST, SC and Other Backward Classes (OBC) were provided by the Indian Constitution to uplift the people belonging to such categories.
The reservations also help these categories get adequate representation in the system and enhance the social and economic status of underprivileged communities, it said.
A forgery and cheating case was registered against Mahto after CBI, on the direction of Delhi high court, began investigating cases where people forged certificates to bag public sector jobs.
According to the probe agency, Mahto worked as a head clerk at a government boys' school from March 1989 till May 18, 1992. He subsequently applied for the position of inspector at central excise department, income tax on August 19, 1990. He claimed to belong to the ST category.
According to the court, Mahto bagged both jobs on the basis of a forged ST certificate. And therefore he was a "habitual offender".
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