Gandhinagar, Jul 8 (IANS): The Gujarat government, here on Wednesday, said a five-member panel would be set up to authenticate the Scheduled Tribes (ST) certification to Other Backward Class (OBC) communities living in the Gir forest region.

The ST status was granted to many OBC communities, like Rabaari, Bharvad and Charan, living in Gir, and Barda and Alech residing in the Gir forest region, by the central government in 1956.

The commission, headed by a retired high court judge, will comprise two retired district judges, one retired forest official and a retired district collector.

"We are committed to ensure the rights of tribals and that no wrong person gets the undue advantage of the ST privileges," said Ganpatsinh Vasava, Forest and Tribal Minister.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had a meeting on Tuesday with the leaders of Rabaari, Bharvad and Charan communities regarding the issue. Only those residing in the Gir forest region were granted the ST status.

With the passage of time, the members of these communities started moving out of the Gir region, but they continued to enjoy the privileges of ST due to the notifications in 2007 and 2017.

The ST community recently started opposing their ST status as they felt their share of reservation was being taken away by those who were not worthy of that. They also staged protests.