Unfair Rejection of EWS Certificate Application and Indirect Bribe Demand ! please help 🙏🏻

I urgently need help. I am applying for an EWS certificate, and I am fully eligible as per the 2019 rules. The government considers the income of the previous financial year based on RTI or Income Certificate. Today, my father went to the tehsildar’s office, but the officer started giving strange explanations. He said that since our family’s income touched 8 lakhs around 3 years ago in 2023, even if our income in 2024–25 did not cross 8 lakhs, the form would still be rejected. After saying this, he canceled the application.

He was rejecting everyone’s forms in the office, even of those whose parents’ income was as low as 4 lakhs. In our case, it was still under 7 lakhs. This makes me feel like he was indirectly demanding a bribe. My mother also mentioned that after rejecting our application, the officer kept staring at us, and later a man came outside near my father’s bike.

I don’t want to give a bribe because I am not doing anything wrong , I am following the official procedure. But the officer is not acting in a fair or legal way. What should I do in this situation?