DC issues show cause notice to ADO over ST certificate

[Bengia Ajum]

NAMSAI, 18 Apr: The Namsai deputy commissioner has issued a show cause notice to Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Tiprami Manlong as to why the APST certificate issued to her by the DC office should not be cancelled.

She has been asked to reply to the notice latest by 21 April.

Manlong allegedly used two different scheduled tribe (ST) certificates to get a job and for education purposes. “Whereas, a person cannot possess two scheduled tribe certificates from two different states at a given point of time and if so found, such certificate is liable for cancellation. Therefore you are directed to reply to the notice, failing which appropriate action shall be initiated exparte,” the notice read.

Earlier, on Monday, activist Sol Dodum, along with Nari Shakti members Nimi Taba and Kipa Champa and ADO aspirants called on Namsai DC CR Khampa here and submitted a letter, seeking cancellation of the ST certificate of Manlong.

A group of ADO aspirants had lodged an FIR in this regard, and the case (Itanagar PS Case No 82/23 u/s 465/468/471/420 IPC) has been registered.

The aspirants had earlier alleged that, even though she is from Narayanpur in Lakhimpur district of Assam, she got a job under the APST category in Arunachal Pradesh.

Manlong completed her MSc in agriculture from the College of Agriculture in Jorhat, Assam. At the time of her admission, she had submitted an ST certificate which mentions her as an ST (plains) of Assam. Further, as per the permanent residence certificate (PRC) submitted by her, she is a resident of Shribhuyan village under Narayanpur PS in Lakhimpur district.

She did her BSc in agriculture from 2016 to 2022 and MSc in agriculture, using Assam ST and PR certificates. However, she got a job as ADO here in Arunachal, using an APST certificate.