FAO No. 5848 of 2009 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CM Nos. 24567-68-CII of 2010 and FAO No. 5848 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision: 30.3.2011 Gurcharan Singh .. Appellant v. The Deputy Commissioner, Patiala and others .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Surinder Gandhi, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. K. V. Aggarwal, Advocate for respondent No. 2. ... Rajesh Bindal J. Challenge in the present appeal is to the order dated 29.9.2009, passed by Election Tribunal, Patiala (for short, `the Tribunal'), whereby the petition filed by the appellant challenging the election of respondent No. 2- Amrik Singh as Panch of Gram Panchayat, Dhablan, Tehsil and District Patiala, in schedule caste category, was dismissed. The ground on which the election of Amrik Singh was challenged by the appellant was that he did not belong to Schedule Caste category. Learned counsel for the appellant pointed out that Constitution (Schedule Castes) Order, 1950 shows as to who are Schedule Castes in the State of Punjab. Respondent No. 2, who belongs to Marasi community, but professing Muslim religion was not eligible to contest election in Schedule Caste category. The birth certificates of the children of Amrik Singh were produced as Ex. P7 and Ex. P8 showing his religion as Muslim. However, there was no pleading regarding the fact that Amrik Singh is not a Schedule Caste of his being a Muslim. He submitted that as all the documents go to the root of the case, these are required to be considered for the purpose of considering the eligibility of Amrik Singh to contest election in reserved category. He prayed that his application for leading additional evidence be FAO No. 5848 of 2009 [2] allowed and matter be considered accordingly. On the other hand, learned counsel for respondent No. 2- Amrik Singh submitted that he had produced a certificate issued by Sub Divisional Magistrate showing him belonging to Doom community, which is one of the castes mentioned in the Constitution (Schedule Castes) Order, 1950, hence there was no reason for rejection of his candidature for the election of Panch in the reserved category. In response to the aforesaid submissions, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the aforesaid certificate issued by the Sub Divisional Magistrate was cancelled by the District Welfare Officer finding that Amrik Singh in fact belonged to Marasi community and not Doom and the certificate had been wrongly issued. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, in my opinion, the appellant in the present case deserves to be granted an opportunity to amend his election petition for adding the pleading with regard to Amrik Singh being not a Schedule Caste on account of the fact that he professes Muslim religion. It is considering the fact that all the documents in support of the aforesaid assertion have already been exhibited and only Constitution Order is required to be produced on record. Further the development was that the certificate issued in favour of Amrik Singh by Sub Divisional Magistrate showing him to be Schedule Caste was cancelled by the District Welfare Officer holding him to be belonging to `Muslim community' and not `Doom', on the basis of which the Sub Divisional Magistrate had issued the certificate. For the reasons mentioned above, the impugned order passed by the Tribunal is set aside and the matter is remitted back to the Tribunal to be dealt with in accordance with law and considering the observations made above. The parties are directed to appear before the Tribunal on 18.4.2011. Let the matter be finally decided by the Tribunal by the end of July, 2011. The appeal stands disposed of. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 30.3.2011 mk