IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No.1395 of 2010 (M/S) Ashish Kumar .…Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand & others ...Respondents Mr. Naresh Pant, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.C. Bisht, Brief Holder for the State/respondent nos.1 to 3. Mr. Shailendra Nauriyal, Advocate for respondent no.4. Mr. K.P. Upadhyaya, Advocate for respondent no.5. 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 the respondents to issue caste certificate to the petitioner on the basis of his application dated 30.07.2009. Brief facts of the case are that petitioner belongs to the Chamar caste, which is notified as Scheduled Caste. The grand father of the petitioner was working with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited on the post of Mali since 10.08.1965 and was superannuated from the post on 24.11.1997. The petitioner from his childhood studied at Haridwar. He passed his All India Senior School Certificate Examination from Vidya Mandir Inter College, Haridwar in the year 2009. Petitioner got his entire education from the State of Uttarakhand. After completing his education, petitioner is in urgent need of caste certificate for higher studies. Therefore, he applied for caste certificate before the 2 respondent no.3- Tehsildar, District Haridwar, but caste certificate is not being issued to the petitioner. Although the petitioner has also prayed a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to give admission to the petitioner as per his allotment of seat in Kumaon Engineering College, Dwarahat, District Almora but during the course of argument, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that he does not intend to press this relief at this stage rather he confined his prayer towards prayer no.1 only. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that father of the petitioner is living in the State of Uttarakhand for a very long time. The petitioner was earlier issued a caste certificate by the authorities concerned. He also submitted that petitioner was born and brought up in the State of Uttarakhand and from his childhood he studied in the State of Uttarakhand. He also submitted that in the year 2009, the petitioner was issued permanent resident certificate by the competent authority. Thus, it cannot be said that petitioner is not original resident of State of Uttarakhand. He further submitted that petitioner applied for the caste certificate before Tehsildar, District Haridwar but the Tehsildar is not issuing the caste certificate to the petitioner and lingering the matter. 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 3 the purpose and meaning of the expression “original resident”. He argued that the action of the respondents is not only illegal but also arbitrary. 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 up in District Haridwar. 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 of justice, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent no.3- Tehsildar, District Haridwar to take final decision on the application of the petitioner in accordance with law within a period of three days from the date of production of certified copy of the order. The respondent no.3 will also consider whether the petitioner is bonafidely residing in the State of Uttarakhand for last 15 years. Let a certified copy of the order be given to the counsel for the parties today itself on payment of usual charges. Interim relief application no. 6511 of 2010 also stands disposed of. (V.K.Bist. J,) Arpan 06.08.2010