Candidates for local body polls must submit certificate

Mumbai, Jan 2 (UNI) In reversal of its earlier decisions, the Maharashtra Government today made it mandatory for candidates contesting local body elections from reserved constituencies to produce a caste validation certificate along with nomination forms.

A decision to this effect was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh here.

Earlier, the Government had allowed three months time from the date of winning the election for submitting caste validation certificates. Later, the time frame was extended by a month.

However, the Government felt the desired objective of removing hurdles on the path of valid candidates a chance of contesting from reserved constituencies and stopping wastage of public money due to by-elections, if caste certificates were found invalid, had not been met.

The cabinet gave a go ahead to setting up a regional forensic laboratary at Amravati and approved creating 42 new posts for the purpose. At present, there are four forensic laborataries in the state--Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. The directorate is situated here.

Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Buldhana and Washim districts are attached to the Nagpur division. With the setting up of the forensic laboratory at Amravati, the five districts would come under its jurisdiction and help in early dispension of justice.

UNI MR OBB KD HT1752