Mah govt relaxes condition on caste certificates for candidates

Mumbai, Oct 16 (UNI) The Maharashtra government has relaxed the condition for candidates contesting the local bodies polls on reserved seats to submit caste and validation certificates by the scrutiny committee for a period of three months.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, while addressing a post-cabinet news briefing, said there were about 3,000 applications for scrutiny before the committee and it was not possible to complete the process within 15 days.

He said if the aspiring candidates did not have the validity certificate, he/she can submit the original application copy given to them by the scrutiny committee for the validation of caste certificate along with the nomination form.

If the concerned candidate wins the elections, he/she would have to give a guarantee that they would submit the application for caste validity in three months from the date of winning the election.

Failing which, the candidate would cease to be the member of a local body. The candidate will also face criminal action if the caste certificate turns out to be false.

Mr Deshmukh said the urgent amendment was required as the municipal council, municipal corporations, zilla parishad elections begin in the state from November 19 and the process will be completed March next year.

The government will request Governor S M Krishna to promulgate an ordinance to this effect, he added.

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