Pirzada Shakir
Kupwara: The revenue authorities have allegedly denied EWS certificate to a student of backward area due to which he lost a civil engineering seat.
The people belonging to weaker sections of the society are entitled to get 10% reservation in government jobs and admission to educational institutions across India.
Shakir Shafi Dar, a student of Kupwara, who recently got selected for B.Tech course after qualifying one of the country’s top exams, under EWS category, said he was denied the certificate by the concerned tehsildar (revenue officer).
The father of the student said all the required documents were provided to tehsildar to get EWS certificate which was denied on different pretexts.
“We visited tehsildar office Kupwara several times to get the certificate but he refused to issue, citing different reasons,” Mohammad Shafi Dar told GNS. “First, he (tehsildar) told us that the people belonging to Resident of Backward Areas (RBA) category are not entitled to get the certificate. Later, he told us that he would go for spot verification to check the assets before issuing the certificate but didn’t visit.”
“I provided income certificate issued by the same tehsildar after proper verification of income and assets where my total annual income is around Rs 44000 from all sources,” the father said.
Dar, however, claimed that “DDC Kupwara had already clarified to the tehsildar that there is no reason for not issuing the certificate to RBAs as EWS pertains to the central government while as RBA certificates are not entertained in NEET exams”.
“Tehsildar Kupwara ruined the career of my son by not providing the certificate. Tuesday, (2 July 2019) was the last day of submitting documents for counselling and we failed to provide EWS certificate because of official apathy due to which he lost civil engineering seat,” the father said.
Lawyer Owais Geelani told GNS that the concerned officials are obliged to issue EWS certificates to Resident of Backward Areas as per law.
Advocate Syed Mujtaba said that anybody who doesn’t fall under the scheduled caste, schedule tribes and other backward classes in the central list applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and qualify for EWS category, is eligible to receive the benefits of reservation for EWS.
Tehsildar Kupwara, Javid Ahmad rejected allegations and claimed that he left no stone unturned to support the applicant-student under rules and also discussed the matter with DDC, ACR and ADC Kupwara in presence of the applicant.
“I’m not the only competent authority to issue the aforesaid certificate,” tehsildar said but didn’t respond to the question asking the reason for not issuing the certificate to the applicant.
The father of the student has appealed government and DDC Kupwara to take serious note of the issue and deliver justice. “Nobody should suffer unduly,” he said.
However, sources informed that in Kupwara, several files of EWS certificates are waiting approval of concerned officials and are gathering dust in office shelves. (GNS)
