Caste Certificate Can’t Be Cancelled On Account That Sibling Secured A Scholarship Under Different Caste: Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court allowed a Writ Petition of a man against an Order by which the caste certificate granted to him was cancelled.
The Karnataka High Court held that the caste certificate of a person cannot be cancelled on a sole ground that his/her sibling secured a scholarship under a different caste.
The Dharwad Bench held thus in a Writ Petition filed by a man against an Order by which the caste certificate granted to him was cancelled.
A Single Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna observed, “The greed of the brother of the petitioner in securing scholarship has led to a situation, where the members of the family, brothers and sisters continued to be Hindu Bhovi, but a sibling is now depicted to be belonging to a backward class, all because of his greed of getting some scholarship. It is trite that such act of securing scholarship cannot mask the caste status of the person, which has been granted, affirmed and re-affirmed by validation every time. The solitary circumstance cannot be projected as the reason for cancellation of the caste certificate.”
Advocate Srinand A. Pachhapure appeared for the Petitioner while Advocates C. Jagadish and Shivaraj P. Mudhol appeared for the Respondents.
Facts of the Case
The Petitioner belonged to Hindu-Bhovi caste, also known as ‘Vaddar’. As per his case, in the school leaving certificates, he, his brother, and his sister were shown to be of Hindu-Bhovi caste. The Tahsildar after conducting a local inquiry and drawing up panchanama had held that the Petitioner belonged to Hindu-Bhovi caste and accordingly, issued a caste certificate in his favour. The Petitioner’s brother joined a course in a private college and was granted a scholarship by treating him as Hindu Sunagar caste. Based on this scholarship, the District Caste Verification Committee (DCVC) refused to issue a validation certificate in favour of the Petitioner. This led the authorities to cancel the Petitioner’s caste certificate on the ground that he had claimed the caste status as Hindu Bhovi fraudulently.
Being aggrieved, the Petitioner approached the High Court via Writ Petition which was disposed of, remitting the case back to the DCVC for conduct of a fresh inquiry. Subsequently, the Deputy Director of Social Welfare Department submitted a report of inquiry that the Petitioner belonged to Hindu Bhovi caste. The school records were again verified and notwithstanding all these, based upon a subsequent report of the Tahsildar, an Order was passed that the Petitioner belonged to Sunagar-Bhovi and the validation certificate was thus refused. The Petitioner approached the Appellate Authority and his Appeal got dismissed. Challenging this, he was before the High Court.
Reasoning
The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, said, “While granting caste certificate to the brother of the petitioner, the school documents are verified. At the time of re-validation also they are verified. Again, to the brother of the petitioner, it is verified, sister of the petitioner, it is verified and all of them are said to be belonging to Hindu Bhovi caste.”
The Court took note of the fact that if the Tahsildar himself has granted the caste certificate to the Petitioner after due enquiry as belonging to Hindu Bhovi, the counsel appearing for the Respondents is now wanting to project that the Tahsildar has granted the said certificate erroneously, and subsequent Tahsildar has granted it correctly. It added that these submissions are without substance.
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the Writ Petition and quashed the impugned Order.
Cause Title- Prabhu Ramesh Haveri v. The Commissioner for Social Welfare and Appellate Authority & Ors. (Case Number: WRIT PETITION No.104264 OF 2021)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocates Srinand A. Pacchapure, Pallavi S. Pacchapure, and F.V. Patil.
Respondents: Advocates C. Jagadish and Shivaraj P. Mudhol.
