Additional General Manager/Human ... vs Suresh Ramkrishna Burde

3. The respondent herein, Suresh Ramkrishna Burde, claiming himself to be belonging to Halba Scheduled Tribe and after submitting a certificate to the said effect, got an appointment in the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Hyderabad, as Clerk on 31.5.1982 on a post which was reserved for a person belonging to Scheduled Tribe. He was promoted as Assistate Grade II on 27.6.1987 and then as Assistant Grade I on 25.6.1994. The Scheduled Tribes Employees Association (Regd. No. 290 BHEL), Hyderabad, made a complaint that the respondent and several others had produced false caste certificates and had thereby got appointment on vacancies which were reserved for members of Scheduled Tribes. The caste certificate produced by the respondent was referred for verification to District Collector, Nagpur, on 30.3.1991 and also to the Chairman, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee (for short 'the Scrutiny Committee'). The Scrutiny Committee vide order 30.8.1995 held that the caste certificate produced by the respondent was false and the same was invalidated. The respondent challenged the said order by filing writ petition No. 3229 of 1995 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, which was allowed and the matter was remanded back to the Scrutiny Committee for a fresh consideration in accordance with law. The Scrutiny Committee again examined the matter in accordance with the direction of the High Court and also got an enquiry conducted through its Police Vigilance Cell. The enquiry committee took into consideration the primary school record of the respondent and also extracts of the admission register of the school where the respondent's real paternal cousin had his primary education in the year 1945 onwards. The Scrutiny Committee vide its report dated 29.8.2001 found that the respondent belonged to 'Koshti' caste and he did not belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe. This order was again challenged by the respondent by filing writ petition No. 3628 of 2001 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court wherein an interim stay was granted in favour of the respondent on 1.11.2001. The writ petition was finally disposed of on 17.2.2004 and the relevant portion of the order is being reproduced below: -

Thereafter, the respondent made a representation dated 12.3.2004 to the appellant herein (employer) wherein he prayed that in view of decision of the Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra vs. Milind and others (2001) 1 SCC 4, his services may be protected. This representation was considered by the appellant and was rejected. The services of the respondent were terminated vide order dated 16.7.2004. Feeling aggrieved by the said order the respondent then filed writ petition No. 3142 of 2004 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, which, after accepting his undertaking that in future he will not take any advantage of being a member of Scheduled Tribe, was disposed of with a direction that he shall be reinstated in service. The order passed by the High Court is a brief one and relevant part thereof is reproduced below: -

6. There is no dispute on facts. After receiving complaints about the caste certificate produced by the respondent the appellant referred the matter for verification to the District Collector, Nagpur on 30.3.1991 and also to the Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Committee, after thorough verification, passed order on 30.8.1995 that the respondent did not belong to the Scheduled Tribe and the caste certificate submitted by him was false. This order was challenged by the respondent and the High Court in writ petition No. 3229 of 1995 remanded the matter back to the Scrutiny Committee for fresh consideration. The Scrutiny Committee again conducted the enquiry through its Police Vigilance Cell associated with the research officer and after thorough examination of the entire material again passed an order on 29.8.2001 that the caste of the respondent was 'Koshti' and he did not belong to Scheduled Tribe. This order was again challenged by the respondent by filing writ petition No. 3628 of 2001. However, at the time of hearing of the writ petition the petitioner sought leave of the court to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to approach the employer by making a representation. The writ petition was accordingly dismissed as withdrawn on 17.2.2004. The effect of the order passed by the High Court is that the order dated 29.8.2001 of the Scrutiny Committee, by which it was held that the respondent belonged to 'Koshti' caste and he is not a member of Scheduled Tribe, attained finality. Therefore, there is no escape from the conclusion that the respondent secured the appointment on a post which was reserved for Scheduled Tribe by producing a false caste certificate.

13. Before parting with the case we would like to observe that the order invalidating the caste certificate had been passed by the Scrutiny Committee at Nagpur and, therefore, the earlier two writ petitions filed by the respondent were maintainable before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. However, in the third and final writ petition the order under challenge was the order of termination of service which was passed by the appellant on 16.7.2004 at Hyderabad as the respondent was working with the Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd.'s Heavy Power Equipment Plant, Hyderabad. Therefore, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the writ petition wherein challenge was raised to the said order. However, in order to cut short the litigation and settle the controversy we have decided the case on merits.

15. For the reasons discussed above the appeal is allowed. The judgment and order dated 4.8.2004 of the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench), which is under challenge in the present appeal, is set aside. The writ petition filed by the respondent is dismissed.

16. No order as to costs.