The Bombay High Court recently directed the State government to issue valid caste certificates to sons of a paternal uncle after the Caste Scrutiny Committee rejected them. In this case, the paternal uncle had received the certification.
A division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and A S Gadkari was hearing a plea filed by cousins Ganesh and Rajesh Sawale belonging to the ‘Tokare Koli’ Scheduled Tribe, whose caste certificate was rejected by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee in January 2012.
The bench recorded that once caste certificates are issued to paternal relatives, the other relatives “similarly situated” are also entitled to the benefit, including a caste validity certificate, unless a case of fraud or misrepresentation is made out. There is nothing on record to show that the State or any authority had challenged and/or tested the validity of those certificates at the relevant time, it said.
The court also observed the Tribunal had failed to take note of HC judgments. It said, subject to the caste validity certificates declared to be bad in law on the ground of fraud or misrepresentation, the State is at liberty to initiate proceedings in accordance with the law.
The court has quashed and set aside the order passed by the Committee that had rejected the caste certificates and directed the State to issue fresh ones to the duo through a competent authority.
