IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V.ESWARAIAH WRIT PETITION No.18800 of 2001 Between: Hari Ekambaram S/o. Hari Krishna Maduliar Municipal Councilor, H.No.3-10, Soucarpet, Chittoor Town & District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Backward Classes Welafre (CI) Departmen, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Chittoor, Chittoor District. 3 The District Level Scrutiny Committee, Rep. by its Chairman Cum Joint Collector, Chittoor, Chittoor District. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue a Writ, Order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Certiorari calling for the records relating to ﬁle i.e., Memorandum No. 212/C1/2001 dt. 3.8.2001 and quash the same as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India besides being the Privisions Contemplated under the Act and consequently set aside the proceedings of the 2nd respondent R.Dis.No.C3/4707/2000 dt. 24.12.2000 and to pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.T.C.KRISHNAN Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR SOCIAL WELFARE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V.ESWARAIAH WRIT PETITION No.18800 of 2001 ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled questioning the order of the 1st respondent, dated 03-08-2001. It is the case of the petitioner that he belongs to ‘Sangunther’ Mudaliar’s Community. The ancestors of the petitioners were originally residents of Gudyatham of Tamilnadu State and they were migrated from Tamilnadu to Andhra Pradesh. It is stated that the community of the petitioner is also called as ‘Kaikala Community’. In olden days, his forefathers used to eke out their livelihood by way of weaving. It is stated that the petitioner belongs to BC Community. It is stated that he obtained Caste Certiﬁcate from the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Chittoor, vide ROC No.1294, dated 19-02-2000, so as to enable him to contest as a Municipal Councilor of 27th ward of Chittoor Municipality. Aggrieved by the action of the petitioner in seeking to contest as a Municipal Councilor of 27th ward of Chittoor Municipality, one Mr.A.K.Saravanan ﬁled a petition before the Joint Collector, Chittoor, on 28-03-2000 for cancellation of B.C. Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner stating that the Caste Certiﬁcate obtained by the petitioner is bogus one and he does not belong to Sangunther Caste, but he belongs to Mudaliar caste, which is O.C. Community. The 2nd respondent through order, dated 24-12- 2000, cancelled the Caste Certiﬁcate issued in favour of the petitioner. It is further stated that without giving any reasonable opportunity, the District level Scrutiny Committee as well as the District Collector erroneously cancelled the Caste Certiﬁcate issued in favour of the petitioner by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Chittoor. Aggrieved by the order of the District Collector, dated 24-12-2000, the petitioner ﬁled an appeal before the Government-1st respondent and the 1st respondent through impugned Memo, dated 03-08-2001 dismissed the appeal conﬁrming the order of the District Collector. Aggrieved by the same, this writ petition has been filed. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the orders of the District Collector as well as the Government. Basing on the complaint of one Mr.A.K.Saravanan, enquiry has been initiated under Section 5 of A.P. (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certiﬁcates Act, 1993 for cancellation of the Caste Certiﬁcate issued in favour of the petitioner. Accordingly, notice was issued to the petitioner directing him to appear before the District Level Scrutiny Committee on 09-04-2000 and to furnish all the documentary evidence in support of his community claim, but the petitioner did not appear and, therefore, the enquiry was adjourned from time to time on several occasions. The petitioner has got ﬁled vakalat 12-05-2000 by engaging Advocates Sri R.S.V.Narasimha Raju and Sri V.Jayakumar. In fact, the Advocate Sri R.S.V.Narasimha Raju ﬁled a memo, dated 03-11-2000, before the Joint Collector and the Chairman of the District Level Scrutiny Committee stating that he has no instructions from the petitioner. However, the Advocate Mr.V.Jayakumar has attended the enquiry on 23-05- 2000, 21-06-2000 and 29-06-2000 on behalf of the petitioner and requested time for producing documentary evidence in support of the Caste Certiﬁcate of the petitioner. The Advocate V.Jayakumar also attended for enquiry before the District Level Scrutiny Committee on 19-07-2000, but, no documentary evidence has been ﬁled and the matter was adjourned from time to time on one pretext or the other at the instance of the petitioner. Therefore, the District Level Scrutiny Committee, after giving reasonable opportunity and after allowing the petitioner to appear through Advocate, submitted a report before the District Collector stating that the petitioner does not belong to Sangunther, which is BC community and he belongs to forward community. The said report of the District Level Scrutiny Committee was examined by the District Collector independently. During the course of enquiry by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Chittoor, the father of the petitioner has given statement that their profession is toddy tapping and his wife is not wearing ‘Tali’ but the mother of the petitioner has given statement that their profession is weaving and that their caste is Sangunther and she is having “Tali”, which is speciﬁcally issued by the Mudaliar community people. It clearly shows that there is controversy in the statements given by the father and mother of the petitioner. It is further stated that the father of the petitioner while admitting the petitioner in the Municipal Elementary School, Greanspet, his caste was mentioned as Mudaliar in the admission register. But, however, the petitioner has not made any attempt to produce any documentary evidence in support of his contention that he belongs to Sangunther Caste. Having obtained a certiﬁcate from the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer stating that he belongs to Sangunther Caste, absolutely, no documentary evidence has been ﬁled by the petitioner inspite of giving reasonable opportunity on several occasions. However, it is stated that in fact the petitioner contested as OC candidate prior to the Municipal Elections conducted in the month of February 2000 and in February 2000, he has contested by obtaining BC Certiﬁcate, dated 19-02-2000, as if he belongs to Sangunther Caste. When there is an allegation that the petitioner does not belong to Sangunther Caste, which is B.C. community, the burden lies on the petitioner to prove that he belongs to Sangunther Caste. But, however, the petitioner has not proved the same. Even, before the appellate authority also, no documentary evidence has been ﬁled in support of his contention that he belongs to Sangunther Caste. Even, before this court also, the petitioner has not produced any documentary evidence stating that he belongs to Sangunther Caste. Therefore, I am of the opinion that the District Level Scrutiny Committee, the District Collector as well as the Government, thoroughly examined the issue with regard to the false caste certiﬁcate obtained by the petitioner and, accordingly, cancelled the same. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the opinion that suﬃcient opportunity was given to the petitioner, but the petitioner himself failed to avail the opportunity and, therefore, it cannot be said that the impugned order as well as the order of the District Collector are in violation of the principles of natural justice. Therefore, I do not see any merits in the writ petition and the same is liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________ 21-08-2008 Prv ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{MADHURI}