The former Narcotics Control Bureau’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede has approached the Bombay High Court challenging a show cause notice issued against him asking him why his caste certificate should not be confiscated.
The Mumbai District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee had issued the notice to Mr. Wankhede on April 29 noting that complaints and documents against him prove that he is a Muslim. Mr. Wankhede, however, challenged the notice and filed a petition on May 4 stating that, “The notice was illegal, arbitrary and issued without giving him an opportunity to defend himself.”
The plea mentions that he belongs to the Mahar community, which comes under the Scheduled Castes and that he had never given any false information or filed any false documents to obtain his caste certificate. The plea adds that his mother is a Muslim, but he is a Hindu.
Referring to his birth register, he points out that at the time of his birth, Dawood K. Wankhde was incorrectly provided to the hospital as his father’s name without his father’s knowledge and consent, and Muslim was incorrectly recorded in the birth register. When he was 10 years old, his father initiated necessary steps to ensure that his school records and his name in the birth register were corrected.”
Mr. Wankhede pleaded that the show-cause notice issued by the caste committee be quashed and urged that a committee with a retired judge of the high court be set up to enquire into the issue.
