Guntur district officials issue notice to Vemula kin on caste

Guntur: Guntur district officials have issued a show cause notice to the family members of late Rohith Vemula, triggering a new controversy on his caste.

This newspaper had first reported on January 14 about the Guntur district administration’s plans to declare University of Hyderabad scholar, who committed suicide on January 17 last year, a member of the BC Vaddera community.

The notice was issued by Guntur collector Kantilal Dande to Rohith’s mother Radhika asking her to show reasons for not cancelling their SC certificates.

Based on documentary evidence, recorded evidence and other material evidence, the district-level scrutiny committee (DLSC), led by chairman M. Venkateswara Rao, have concluded that the Vaddera community comes under the BCA category.

According to the notice, SC certificates of Radhika (mother), Demimoor Neelima (daughter), Rohith (elder son) and Raja (youngest son) are liable to be cancelled.

Mr Dande said the government decided to give a chance to the Vemula family to prove their caste claim. “Hence, if they do not respond to the notice within 15 days, the SC caste certificates would be cancelled,” he said.

Earlier, officials of Guntur and Gurazala had issued SC caste certificate and Guntur collector Kantilal Dande also declared Rohith as belonging to SC before the National SC/ST Commission. But, the Roopanwall Commission objected the declaration, claiming Rohit as a non-SC as Rohith’s father Manikumar is from BC Vaddera community.