Dy collector asked to cancel certificate; election in doubt
MAPUSA
A Mapusa councillor is in the dock after a three-member Scrutiny Committee of the Directorate of Social Welfare declared that the OBC certificate issued to the councillor before the Mapusa Municipal Council elections was not “verified” and directed the Deputy Collector and SDO of Bardez to “cancel” the certificate.
In its order, the committee said that the caste certificate issued by the office of the Deputy Collector and SDO Bardez on March 18, 2021 to Ward 7 Councillor Tarak Arolkar, who contested the municipal elections held in April 2021 and won, was based on invalid birth certificate.
The order does not automatically disqualify the councillor but puts his election in the Mapusa Municipal Council in doubt.
According to the scrutiny committee, Arolkar in an attempt to obtain the OBC certificate relied upon the birth certificate of his late father Manguesh Arolkar purported to be issued by the village panchayat of Raia, Salcete.
“The Raia village panchayat in an RTI application has denied issuing any certificate or even registering the birth in the name of Manguesh Arolkar in the panchayat office,” the Scrutiny Committee order said.
The order has been signed by Chairman Subhash Chandra (IAS), expert member, Jayant Tari and member Sandhya Kamat who is also the Director of Social Welfare.
Soon after the civic election, former councillor Francisco (Franky) Carvalho approached the Directorate Social Welfare challenging the OBC certificate issued to councillor Tarak Arolkar.
In his complaint, Carvalho said that the OBC certificate issued by the Deputy Collector was obtained by fraud and was based upon manufactured and forged documents.
The complainant placed before the scrutiny committee information provided by the Raia panchayat obtained through RTI which said that the birth certificate of the councillor’s late father Manguesh Arolkar was not registered with it.
“The father of the councillor late Manguesh Arolkar does not belong to the Bhandari Naik community and in order to claim his father belongs to the community, the councillor submitted false, bogus and fabricated birth certificate of his father to contend that his father was born on June 19, 1948 and his birth was registered in the office of Raia village panchayat,” Carvalho submitted.
He further said that late Manguesh Arolkar was not born in Goa and that he appears to have migrated to Goa subsequently and therefore he cannot be considered to be from Bhandari Naik community.
In his defence, Councillor Tarak Arolkar said that the Gomantak Bhandari Samaj association confirmed that he has been issued the samaj certificate.
He also said that he is the Vice-President of the Bhandari Samaj which has been accepted by the entire community.
Arolkar further informed that the Crime Branch/Vigilance Cell after a detailed inquiry in its report has admitted that he belonged to Bhandari Naik, OBC community.
The scrutiny committee informed that their mandate was to decide upon the caste certificate by the deputy collector on March 18, 2021.
It said that the OBC certificate was issued based on the birth certificate obtained from the Raia panchayat and Tarak Arolkar contested and got elected based on this certificate.
“It is evident that the caste certificate issued by the deputy collector is based on invalid birth certificate,” the three member committee ruled.
Meanwhile, former chairperson and experienced hand in council politics, Sandip Fallari said that there may not be an immediate threat to councillor Tarak Arolkar but it was just a matter of time.
“It is the beginning of the end. His days as a councillor are numbered but it all depends, how the legal teams of both the parties fight it out,” Fallari said.
He said Arolkar continues to be a councillor until some authority sets his election aside.
