Dist.Collector Satara vs Mangesh Nivrutti Kashid

3. The facts in Kumari Madhuri Patil2 case itself are an illustration of this problem. The appellant before the Court was seeking a Caste Certificate on the basis of a Caste Certificate obtained by her sister, who was claiming on the basis of their father having obtained caste certificate, certifying him to be of ‘Hindu Koli’ caste. On investigation, the caste claims were found to be wrong and the certificates issued to the appellant therein and her sister were cancelled. This Court in the Kumari Madhuri Patil3 case, while discussing the various provisions of the Constitution, emphasised that the State was enjoined under our constitutional scheme to provide facilities and opportunities to the SCs and STs for education and employment, so as to result in economic improvement, resulting in excellence, equality of status and the right to live in dignity. Thus, any admission wrongly gained, or employment wrongly obtained, on the basis of a false social status certificate automatically has the effect of depriving a genuine person for whose benefit the rights have been conferred under the Constitution. Simultaneously, in view of the reservation, a General Category candidate loses the seat to an ineligible candidate, who really does not belong to the SC/ST community. No 2 (supra) 3 (supra) 3 proper procedure or legislation provided for the checks and balances in issuance of these caste certificates and, thus, in the Kumari Madhuri Patil4 case, it was deemed necessary to issue directions to streamline the procedure for issuance of the social status certificates. There were fifteen (15) directions issued, but the two directions, which are relevant for the controversy raised in the present appeals, are as under:

5. It appears that with the passage of time, and on examining the matter in issue, the State of Maharashtra resolved to place before the Assembly, a legislative enactment to cover aspects beyond education and 5 (1997) 5 SCC 437 6 employment, for different categories of SCs, STs and Backward Classes. The law was so enacted vide The Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act of 2000’), which was brought into force with effect from 18.10.2001. The Preamble of this Act reads as under:

(4) The Vigilance Officer shall personally verify and collect all the facts about the social status claimed by the applicant or his parents or the guardian, as the case may be.

16. It is in the context of these facts that the High Court was greatly troubled while exercising the writ jurisdiction, where the prayer made by the petitioners, inter alia, was qua caste certificates issued and not issued. By an amendment, a writ was specifically sought seeking the quashing and setting aside of the aforesaid Government Resolution dated 30.7.2011. In these proceedings, through an elaborate judgment dated 4.5.2012, this Resolution was quashed, with a direction that both, the matters of constitution of the Committee and the operation of the Vigilance Cell (being mandatory), the directions in Kumari Madhuri Patil14 case have to be given full effect to. The original certificates issued in pursuance of the Government Resolution of 30.7.2011 were directed to be recovered from the respective persons and destroyed forthwith.

17. The aforesaid judgment was assailed in this batch of appeals before us, and the operation of the impugned judgment was stayed vide order dated 30.7.2012. The result has been that these certificates, issued under the aforesaid circular, have continued to hold the field and the process 14 (supra) 18 followed has been as per the Act of 2000, read with the Rules of 2003.

The prayer was for relaxation of the condition to produce the caste validity certificate at the time of scrutiny, which had been made mandatory (though that certificate once issued was to remain valid for all 22 purposes). The second set of writ petitioners were those whose caste certificates were invalidated by the Scrutiny Committees, and they sought to challenge the decision with a direction to the Returning Officer to allow them to participate in the ensuing elections. The third set of petitioners were those who challenged the Caste Validity Certificates granted to the candidates who were party respondents in both petitions, on the ground that the said certificates were obtained by fraud, with a prayer for direction to the Election Commission to reject the nomination papers of such candidates. The impugned judgment has been rendered in the context of the third set of petitioners. The certificates in question were alleged to have been obtained without vigilance reports and within a very short period of time, as would be apparent from the chart aforesaid.

(6) After completion of the enquiry, the Vigilance Cell shall submit its report to the Scrutiny Committee who will in turn scrutinize the report submitted by the Vigilance Cell. (7) In case the report of Vigilance Cell is in favour of the applicant, and if the Scrutiny Committee is satisfied that the claim of the applicant is genuine and true, the Scrutiny Committee may issue the validity certificate. The validity certificate shall be issued in Form G. 11 (8) If the Scrutiny Committee, on the basis of the Vigilance Cell report and other documents available, is not satisfied about the claim of the applicant, the Committee shall issue a show cause notice to the applicant and also serve a copy of the report of the Vigilance Officer by registered post with acknowledgement due. A copy shall also be sent to the Head of the Department concerned, if necessary. The notice shall indicate that the representation or reply, if any, should be made within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the notice and in any case not more than thirty days from the date of receipt of the notice. In case the applicant requests for adjournment or extension of the time-limit, reasonable time, may be granted.

(c) Police Constables to assist the Police Inspectors. (2) Jurisdiction of the Vigilance Cell shall be subject to territorial jurisdiction of concerned Scrutiny Committee, for all purposes, including domestic inquiry and verification of authenticity of documents:

29. The troublesome aspect is that the validity certificates are not only valid for that election, but also for subsequent elections. They are not only valid for educational purposes (except for some cases so restricted), but also for all other purposes. These validity certificates can possibly become the basis for issuance of further certificates to the legal heirs. Thus, we have no doubt that the exercise so undertaken cannot be upheld and has to be quashed with the direction to carry out the aforesaid exercise afresh.

34. We end with the hope that the aforesaid exercise would sub-serve the very purpose for bringing the Act of 2000 into force, and confer benefits only on the entitled persons, while weeding out the non-entitled persons.

35. The appeals are accordingly allowed, leaving the parties to bear their own costs.

October 01, 2019.