A Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer, who is presently attached to the office of a Cabinet Minister, could lose his government job as the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday upheld the allegation that the officer had produced a certificate “falsely” claiming that he belonged to Hindu-Ganiga community for securing the job under a reserved category.
Justice L. Narayana Swamy passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Sangappa, who is serving as private secretary to Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil.
Mr. Sangappa had questioned the January 23, 2006 order of the Appellate Authority for Verification of Caste and Income Certificates that had ordered for cancellation of the caste certificate issued to him in 2005 for securing a job in the 1999 batch recruitment to the posts of Group A and B Gazetted Probationer posts under the reserved category of 2A through the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).
The appellate authority, from the school documents of Mr. Sangappa, had found that he belong to Lingayat caste as his father too belonged to Lingayat caste, while concluding that the district caste verification committees had failed to verify these documents when it approved the certificate issued by the tahsildar of Bagalkot certifying that Mr. Sangappa belonged to Hindu-Ganiga, which is classified as 2A category under caste reservation list.
“The certificate of the father of petitioner [Sangappa] shows he belongs to particular caste and therefore petitioner cannot claim a different caste, for the benefit, for which he is not entitled to,” the court held.
Curiously, the petition filed by Mr. Sangappa before the High Court took 11 long years for adjudication. The petition was filed on January 27, 2006, a few days before Mr. Sangappa was appointed to the post of Assistant Commissioner (AC). The petition remained pending after the court initially ordered to maintain status quo and subsequently Mr. Sangappa was appointed to the post of AC. He was promoted to the senior scale in 2013 and has been serving as private secretary to the Minister for Medical Education since June 2013. He had also served as private secretary to another minister earlier.
Complaint
The allegation of false claim of caste was made against him by M.V. Chandrakanth, who belonged to Kuruba caste. It was Mr. Chandrakanth’s complaint that he would have got selected to the post of Assistant Commissioner based on reservation if Mr. Sangappa had not produced “false” caste certificate. There was a difference of only one mark between Mr. Sangappa and Mr. Chandrakanth, who got a positing as Deputy Superintendent of Police, in the final selection list of the KPSC.
