KORBA MAYOR’S CASTE CERTIFICATE SUSPENDED

The Korba Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) on Tuesday suspended the caste certificate of Municipal Corporation, Korba Mayor Rajkishore Prasad.

He was elected a corporator and later elected as Mayor. The opposition BJP corporators have demanded his removal and recovery of whatever facilities were availed during the tenure.

The order issued by Korba SDM states that due to prima facie suspicious and fraudulent obtaining of the temporary Other Backward Classes caste certificate approved by Tehsildar Korba on December 5, 2019, it is to be suspended for the till the final investigation. Prasad has been banned from availing any kind of benefit on the basis of this certificate.

The Congress leader Rajkishore Prasad first won the election of corporator and then got the post of mayor from backward class quota on the basis of OBC caste certificate. Later, Rajkishore Prasad's OBC temporary caste certificate was challenged by BJP corporator Ritu Chaurasia.

BJP corporator and Leader of Opposition Hitanand Aggarwal welcomed the order of SDM and said that ultimately truth has won. He has said that Rajkishore Prasad has taken away the rights of deserving backward class people using fake caste certificates for more than 4 years. He demanded the Mayor's removal and recovery.

BJP corporator Ritu Chaurasia had filed a suit in the district court saying that his certificate was fake. After arguments, the District Court rejected her appeal. She then approached the High Court against the decision of the District Court, where the hearing of the case is in progress.

With BJP returning to power, the issue of caste certificate again gained momentum.

As already the matter is judicial, the question being raised is how effective the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer will be. However, the decision given by the Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee after examining the certificate is also crucial.