IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No.1185 of 2010 (M/S) Jaspal Singh .…Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand & others ...Respondents Mr. M.K. Ray, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.C. Bisht, Brief Holder for the State/respondents. Hon’ble V.K. Bist, J. By means of this writ petition, the petitioner has sought a writ in the nature of mandamus for a direction to respondents to issue a caste certificate to the petitioner forthwith. Brief facts of the case are that by caste petitioner is Rai Sikkh which belongs to other backward caste (O.B.C.). Petitioner got his complete education from State of Uttarakhand. The father of the petitioner is residing in the State of Uttarakhand since 1967. Subsequently, in the year 1985 father of the petitioner became Gram Pradhan of Gram Sabha Nazimabad, District-Udham Singh Nagar. Petitioner submitted an application for issuance of caste certificate which he required for higher education before respondent no.4-Tehsildar, Kiccha on 10.06.2010 but caste certificate is not being issued to the petitioner. 2 Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that caste certificate is urgently required by the petitioner for taking admission in the higher classes under the reserved quota. He also submitted that petitioner is residing in the State of Uttarakhand since his birth, therefore, he is entitled for the caste certificate as Rai Sikkh is notified under the other backward caste. He further submitted that the petitioner got his complete education from the State of Uttarakhand and it cannot be said that he is not original resident of State of Uttarakhand. Learned counsel for the petitioner relied on paragraph 7 of the judgment given by the Division Bench of this Court in writ petition no.316 of 2008 (S/B) in which this Court has observed that for defining expression “original resident” one aspect which can be taken in constructing the interpretation is to include the period of residence of 15 years so as to connote the purpose and meaning of the expression “original resident”. He argued that the action of the respondents in denying the caste certificate to the petitioner is not only illegal but also arbitrary. He also submitted that petitioner has appeared in the counselling at Pantnagar which is scheduled from 19.07.2010. Prima facie, this Court is of the view that at the time of creation of State of Uttarakhand, the petitioner was residing in State of Uttarakhand. He was born and brought in Kiccha District-Udham Singh Nagar. Now it cannot be said that he is not original resident of State of Uttarakhand. But, since final decision has not been taken by the Tehsildar so far, no order interim or final can be passed at this stage. But, in the interest 3 of justice, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent no.4-Tehsildar, Kiccha to take final decision on the application of the petitioner within a period of three days from the date of production of certified copy of the order. Let a certified copy of the order be given to the counsel for the parties within 24 hours on payment of usual charges. Interim relief application no.5553 of 2010 also stands disposed of. (V.K.Bist. J,) 13.07.2010 Arti 4