On Thursday, the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary of Kerala and recommended that the status of ‘IAS’ to not be conferred to sub-collector of Thalassery, Asif K Yusuf for reportedly producing a fake caste certificate in his UPSC exam.
Reportedly, the wrongdoing on the part of Asif was established in a detailed inquiry by the Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas. The latter had submitted his report on the same in November last year. As per the report, Asif had forged his caste certificate to claim benefits of the reservation during UPSC exams meant for people belonging to the non-creamy layer of Other Backward Caste (OBC).
Income tax records revealed that the parents of Asif had a gross income of ₹21,80,963 (2012-2013), ₹23,05,100 (2013-2014) and ₹28,71,375 (2014-2015). As per official guidelines, children of parents with gross annual income above or equal to ₹6 lacs for three years are illegible for reservation benefits guaranteed for the non-creamy layer of OBCs.
As such, the Centre had recommended the cancellation of caste and income certificate of Asif, besides calling for disciplinary action against him and the Kanayannur Tahsildhar for providing the fake caste certificate.
How Asif exploited the system?
Reportedly, Asif had secured a rank of 215 in the Union Civil Services Examination (UPSC) in 2015. Although Asif was eligible for the post of IPS (Indian Police Service), he could secure a seat for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) using the fake caste certificate. As per the report, in 2015, the top 96 candidates, out of a total of 1,078 candidates, were allocated IAS seats whereas the succeeding General category rank holders were allocated IPS seats.
The non-creamy layer does not advantage a candidate during the selection process but helps one to secure a better seat allocation (which otherwise would have required a higher rank). As of now, Asif has not been conferred the status of the IAS officer.