India, May 16 -- The West Bengal government has ordered a re-verification of all caste certificates issued since 2011 following concerns over the authenticity and validity of several documents issued during the past 14 years.

According to official records, nearly 1.69 crore caste certificates for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes were issued during this period, including many distributed through the Duare Sarkar outreach programme.

Officials said doubts have emerged over the legitimacy of some certificates, including second-generation documents. Following the directive, Sub-Divisional Officers and district-level authorities have been instructed to scrutinise all certificates issued since 2011.

Authorities st...