BOMBAY HIGH COURT SETS PRECEDENT IN FAVOUR OF CASTE CERTIFICATE CLAIMANTS

Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has curbed the tendency of districtlevel Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committees (CCSCs) to deny applicants residential status through a brief enquiry. The court has mandated that not only must the enquiry to determine the fact of residential status of the applicant be conducted by the Vigilance Cell but, if needed, it must also allow the applicant to produce evidence regarding her or his status as a resident of Maharashtra.

Hearing a writ petition filed by a woman challenging the decision of the Caste Scrutiny Committee in Chandrapur district to cancel her caste certificate, Justices AS Chandurkar and Urmial Joshi-Phalke were hearing noted, “A conclusion that the applicant is not ordinarily resident cannot be recorded by making a brief enquiry.” The bench held that the question of normal residence of a person for the purpose of verification of caste certificate cannot be settled without an enquiry by the Vigilance Cell and after giving the concerned person an opportunity to produce evidence. The petitioner sought verification of her caste claim on the basis of a caste certificate. The Caste Scrutiny Committee observed that the caste certificate of the petitioner was in violation of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Non-Notified Tribes (Vimukt Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Classes Rules, 5(1), (2) and 14 . The committee then declared the caste certificate invalid and cancelled it.

SR Narnaware, who appeared for the petitioner, submitted that the service record of the woman’s grandfather shows his permanent address in Andhra Pradesh. He was appointed to Western Coalfields Ltd in 1968. “Based only on this, the committee decided that the petitioner was not a normal resident without giving any opportunity to the petitioner to prove this aspect and without conducting a detailed enquiry through the Vigilance Cell,” Narnaware submitted. The court said, “The Caste Certificate issued to the claimant by an authority other than the one from the State of Maharashtra cannot be verified.” It then directed the enquiry committee to re-examine the claim of the petitioner by following the prescribed procedure including conducting an enquiry by the Vigilance Cell, if necessary