Education Deserves To Be Protected: Supreme Court Asks University To Release Degree Certificate Of Student Whose Caste Claim Was Invalidated

The Apex Court was considering an appeal challenging the judgment of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court vide which the writ petition filed by the appellant was dismissed.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Of India B.R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih asserted, “In the peculiar facts and circumstances, as the appellant has already completed his course, we find that the education undertaken by the appellant herein deserves to be protected. We, however, clarify that the appellant would hereinafter not be entitled to any of the benefits as are available to the members of OBC Category.”

Advocate Shilpa Giratkar represented the Appellant.

Factual Background

The appellant, claiming to belong to the Kunbi caste in the OBC Category, had applied for B.Tech (Chemical Engineering) in the Respondent College. The appellant applied for and got admission against a seat reserved for the OBC Category. Since the appellant claimed to belong to the OBC Category, his caste certificate was sent for verification before the Scrutiny Committee in the year 2015. As the claim of the appellant was not being decided, he approached the Bombay High Court in the year 2017.

Subsequently, the caste claim of the appellant was invalidated. Since the mark-sheets and the degree certificate were not being released by the respondents, the appellant approached the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court. The writ petition was rejected on the ground that though the appellant had taken admission against a seat reserved for the OBC category, his claim had been invalidated, and so he was not entitled to any relief. It was in such circumstances that the appeal came to be filed before the Apex Court.

Reasoning

The Bench took note of the fact that the appellant had applied for verification of his caste certificate but the Scrutiny Committee did not decide the same within a reasonable period. The High Court also noted the callous attitude of the Members of the Scrutiny Committee and awarded costs of Rs.75,000 to the appellant.

Highlighting that the appellant’s education needed to be protected, the Bench held that the appellant will not be entitled to any of the benefits as are available to the members of the OBC Category.

“In that view of the matter, the respondents are directed to release the marks sheets and degree certificate of the appellant within a period of four weeks from today”, the Bench ordered while disposing of the appeal.

Cause Title: Anand Sheshman Patel v. The Registrar North Maharashtra University and Another (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 722)

Appearance:

Appellant: Advocates Shilpa Giratkar, Suja Joshi, Kishor Lambat, Kashmira Lambat, Prem S Mankani, AOR M/S. Lambat & Legiteam

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