I have been studying at Ramjas College for the past two years. I respect my college and cannot tolerate anything being said or done against its pride. The incidents which I am going to mention in the following are all un-exaggerated facts. In no way, am I trying to hamper the esteem of my college.
I belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota and I am not ashamed of it. Both my parents are government employees. In the month of February 2017, my father received a call from a person claiming to be speaking on behalf of Delhi University.This person alleged that we were illegitimately abusing the benefits given to the non-creamy layer of OBC quota. He asked for scanned copies of my original documents for the purpose of verification. My father sent the copies to his e-mail address.
Now, my father is aware of each regulation surrounding the quota and its sub-divisions. According to the rules of the Government of India, children belonging to backward castes are given the benefits entitled to the non-creamy layer if the gross annual income of the family concerned is less than 6 lakhs (from sources excluding salaries and agricultural land). My father stated the same thing to him. He asked for a proof. For this, my father scanned his identity card and his Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) card.
However, after going through all the documents, that person concluded that my father was not a government employee at all! On the contrary, my father has been working at All India Radio (AIR) for more than 15 years and the authenticity of his identity has never been questioned before. Besides, the CGHS card is only issued to a government employee. Therefore, he did not fret for once, because he suspected that the person was only looking for money.
This chapter ceased for some months. However, on June 20, 2017, my father received a call from the sub-inspector at Maurice Nagar Police Station stating that a complaint had been made accusing me of using ‘fake certificates’. My father met with the inspector, listened to him and then told him about the incidents of February. Judging from my father’s disposition, the sub-inspector concluded that he was being earnest and genuine. However, he still cross-checked and verified my OBC certificates at the SDM office. There, all his doubts were cleared.
The policeman also recognised the person’s name and informed my father that there were three other similar cases. Apparently, the one who had filed a complaint against me was a member of his team, according to the policeman.
At the police station, my father checked the file which had my documents. He was astonished to find that the documents, which were pinned in the file, were all from the lot which I had submitted to college during admission. He knew the differences between the certificates which he had sent in February and the ones we submitted during the college admissions. The format and the date of issuing of the certificates, were completely different in the two versions.
While some of this information can be extracted through an RTI application, personal information like name, phone number, etc. are never disclosed. When my father received the call in February, the man had stated my name, date of birth, residential address, and also the fact that I study at Ramjas College. This way, my father never had the slightest doubt about that person’s authority or identity.
Somehow, this person managed to obtain my documents from the college. There is a high chance that he was assisted by someone working with the college’s admission or administrative cell. My father was shocked. He called one of his acquaintances at Ramjas College, and told him about the situation. Since my father’s acquaintance is intimately involved with the college’s admission procedures, he was able to inform us that they are aware of such cases.
Apparently, the admission process was made transparent in order to eradicate the corruption among the administrative authorities. However, these people have found new ways to get around this. We were informed that the college’s clerical staff comes from the small towns of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana. It seems like some of them have started engaging in this racket to earn extra money since they couldn’t do it because of the new transparency rules. My father’s acquaintance said that not just OBC students, students from the scheduled castes (SCs) and the scheduled tribes (STs) are also being targeted.
My father is a bit scared that our documents can be misused. He is doing his bit in order to take legal action against this person and his racket. I would therefore request students to not trust any such person over the phone. If someone does ask for your original documents, make it a point to meet that person face-to-face and ask for their identification and purpose.
The same thing happened with the daughter of my father’s friend who studies in DU’s Kamala Nehru College.
University is supposed to be a secure place that protects its students’ rights. But when it comes to money, some of these people become rabid. Strict legal action must be taken against such criminals and their accomplices so that such rackets cease to exist.
Note: When contacted by YKA, police officials confirmed that a number of false complaints are being made regarding SC/ST/OBC certificates of students at Delhi University. “There is a racket. We have verified more than half of the complaints. They (the certificates) were found to be genuine,” police sources told YKA.