IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE THIRTY FIRST DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 7636 of 2008 Between: 1 Kum. Nersula Veerakumari, D/o. Veeraiah @ Pedda Veeraiah, Petitioner Being Minors and Rep. by their Natural Guardian and Father Veeraiah S/o. Yellaiah, Aged 50 Years, R/o. Anantaram Village, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District. 2 Nersula Nagaraju, D/o. Veeraiah @ Pedda Veeraiah, Petitioner Being Minors and Rep. by their Natural Guardian and Father Veeraiah S/o. Yellaiah, Aged 50 Years, R/o. Anantaram Village, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Khammam District at Khammam. 2 The Tahsildar, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Inspector-I, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court may be pleased to issue Writ order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of WRIT OF MANDAMUS, to declare the impugned memo Rc.No. d/4178/2007 dt. 27-10-2007 issued by the 2nd respondent as illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory, against to the principles of natural justice and consequently set aside the same by directing the respondents to issue the caste certiﬁcate to the petitioners as Raja Koya-ST Caste, and to grant such other relief or reliefs. Counsel for the Petitioners :MR.A.SURYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondents.: GP FOR SOCIAL WELFARE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled by the petitioners, who are two in number, represented by their natural guardian and father, assailing the Memo. Rc.No.D/4178/2007, dated 27.10.2007 issued by the Tahsildar, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District- 2nd respondent. 2. Father of the petitioners has sworn to the writ aﬃdavit. It is stated in the writ affidavit that the petitioners belong to ‘Raja Koya’ caste of Scheduled Tribe Community by birth and the said caste is a notiﬁed caste. The petitioners have been prosecuting their studies at Peda Gopathi Village, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District. An application has been ﬁled by the petitioners with relevant documents before the District Collector, Khammam-1st respondent for issuance of caste certiﬁcate and the District Collector, Khammam, in turn addressed a letter to the Tahsildar, Konijerla-2 nd respondent to conduct detailed enquiry. The 2nd respondent issued the memo impugned in this writ petition to the petitioners. 3. When the writ petition came up for admission, learned Government Pleader for Social Welfare received notice on behalf of the respondents 1 and 3. 4. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and learned Government Pleader for Social Welfare appearing for the respondents 1 to 3. 5. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that the memo impugned in the writ petition came to be served on the petitioners rejecting their application for issuance of caste certiﬁcate without conducting any enquiry as contemplated under Rule 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes – Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certiﬁcates Rules, 1997 (for short, ‘the Rules’). 6. I have gone through the Memo. Rc.No.D/4178/2007, dated 27.10.2007 issued by the Tahsildar, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District-2nd respondent. It appears no enquiry has been conducted by the 2nd respondent before rejecting the application ﬁled by the petitioners for issuance of caste certificate. A procedure has been prescribed under Rule 5 of the Rules on receipt of application for veriﬁcation of the information furnished by the petitioners. The Competent Authority has to follow the procedure prescribed under Rule 5 of the Rules for veriﬁcation of the information furnished by the petitioners. Without following the procedure prescribed under Rule 5 of the Rules, the 2 nd respondent proceeded to issue the memo rejecting the application ﬁled by the petitioners for issuance of caste certiﬁcate. Since the Memo. Rc.No.D/4178/2007, dated 27.10.2007 issued by the Tahsildar, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District-2nd respondent is in utter violation of the principles of natural justice and the Rules, it cannot be sustained. 7. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed at the admission stage setting aside the Memo. Rc.No.D/4178/2007, dated 27.10.2007 issued by the Tahsildar, Konijerla Mandal, Khammam District-2nd respondent and also directing the competent authority under Rules to consider the application of the petitioners for issuance of caste certiﬁcate and pass appropriate orders therein. No costs. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:31st July, 2008. cs ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{SPJS}