IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (M/S) No. 460 of 2011 Abhishek Kumar ….Petitioner. Versus The State of Uttarakhand and others …Respondents. Sri L.K. Verma, Advocate present for the petitioner. Sri N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel present for the State of Uttarakhand. Hon’ble Sudhanshu Dhulia, J. (Oral) Heard Sri L.K. Verma, Advocate for the petitioner as well as Sri N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. The petitioner belongs to “Other Backward Class” (from hereinafter referred to as OBC), which is “Aheer”. It is not disputed by the State Authorities that the caste “Aheer” is notified as OBC in the State of Uttar Pradesh as well as in the State of Uttarakhand. The petitioner now seeks caste certificate of the caste, which he belongs and on which there is absolutely no dispute. All the same, it is being denied to the petitioner by the concerned authorities and his application has been rejected vide order dated 22.2.2011 on the grounds that the petitioner is not a domicile/permanent resident of the State of Uttarakhand and therefore such a certificate cannot be granted. This Court in Neha Saini Vs. State of Uttarakhand and another reported in AIR 2010 Uttarakhand 36 as well as in Smt. Dr. Madhu Arya Vs. State of Uttarakhand and others reported in 2011 (1) U.D., 292 has held the “provincial domicile” is an absolutely misconceived notion. The concept of provincial domicile is alien to the Indian Legal System. Each citizen of India carries with him or her one single domicile which is the “domicile of India”. Therefore, refusal of the caste certificate to the petitioner on the ground that he is not a 2 domicile of the State of Uttarakhand is on a total misconception of law, and is illegal. The impugned order dated 22.2.2011 (Annexure No. 1 to the writ petition) is hereby set aside. The District Magistrate, Haridwar is hereby directed to issue a caste certificate to the petitioner forthwith. All the petitioner has to do is to give an undertaking along with an affidavit before the District Magistrate, Haridwar that he is a permanent resident of District Haridwar and that he has not asked such a certificate nor received any such certificate from any place or any other State in India. Writ petition stands allowed. No order as to costs. (Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.) 10.6.2011 Avneet