Bharati Reddy vs The State Of Karnataka

2. Briefly stated, pursuant to notification dated 04.12.2015, Digitally signed by DEEPAK GUGLANI Date: 2018.03.06 elections were held and the appellant was elected on 12:51:19 IST Reason: 28.03.2016 as a member of the Zilla Panchayat from 13- 2 Badanahatti Constituency, Ballari District, Karnataka which was reserved for General (Women) Category. Later, the State Government published a notification on 15.04.2016 declaring the reservation for the post of Adhyaksha and Upa-Adhyaksha of Zilla Panchayats in the State. In Ballari Zilla Panchayat, the post of Adhyaksha was reserved for the category of Backward Caste-B (Women). After the said notification, since the appellant intended to contest the election to the post of Adhyaksha of Ballari Zilla Panchayat, she made an application on 22.04.2016 to the jurisdictional Tahshildar for issuance of Income and Caste Certificate, a certificate which was a prerequisite for submitting the nomination form for the election to the post of Adhayaksha. That certificate was issued by the Tahshildar on 26.04.2016 on the basis of which the appellant contested the election held on 29.04.2016 and was declared elected. As required in terms of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation of Appointment etc.) Act, 1990 and the Rules framed thereunder, the Income and Caste Certificate has been forwarded to the District Caste Verification 3 Committee Ballari. The process of verification thereof is still in progress.

3. According to the appellant, at the behest of the unsuccessful candidates who could not file any election petition to challenge the election of the appellant, respondent Nos.6 to 9 filed a writ petition before the High Court of Karnataka, Dharwad being Writ Petition No.106417 of 2016, about 3 months after the election of the appellant as Adhyaksha. The substance of the allegation made in the said writ petition against the appellant was that she played fraud on the Government and public by submitting a false affidavit before the Tahshildar for issuance of Income and Caste Certificate, on the basis of which she contested the election for the post of Adhyaksha Zilla Panchayat and got elected to the said post, to which she was otherwise not entitled to or qualified for. The allegation about the nature of fraud committed by the appellant can be discerned from the assertions made in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the writ petition, which read thus:

9. Reverting to the remanded writ petition from which the present appeal arises as aforesaid, the same was to be heard by the learned Single Judge on merits of the controversy for grant of reliefs prayed in the writ petition including for issuance of a writ of quo warranto. The learned Single Judge, after examining the rival contentions and after taking note of the original documents forming part of the original file 1 (2010) 7 SCC 202 2 (1992) Supp (3) SCC 210 14 produced by the Government advocate, opined vide judgment and order dated 21.09.2017 as under:

39. The respondent No.6 who is elected by a democratic process, she belonged to Kapu caste, which caste falls under Backward Class-B category, which is indicated in the Government Notification dated 13.01.1995 of the Government of Karnataka. However, now the issue is pending before the Caste Verification Committee and that issue cannot be decided under the jurisdiction of this court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

14. The moot question in the present case is: whether the High Court, in the facts of the present case, was justified in invoking its extraordinary jurisdiction to issue a writ of quo warranto? Let us advert to the assertion made in the writ petition in support of such a relief claimed by the respondent Nos.6 to 9. The relevant paragraphs have been extracted in paragraph 3 of this judgment, being paragraphs 6 and 7 of the writ petition. The case of the writ petitioners was that the appellant, in order to grab the post of Adhyaksha of Zilla Panchayat, submitted a bogus and false certificate indicating that she belongs to the backward community-B category, which was surreptitiously obtained from respondent No.5. In support of this plea, the crux of the allegation is that a false, incorrect and misleading declaration was given by the 24 appellant in respect of her financial status and income. In that, in the first affidavit dated 6th February, 2016 she had declared that she was receiving rent of Rs. One lakh forty thousand per annum and her husband was receiving rent of Rs. Four lakh eighty thousand per annum. Whereas in the second affidavit dated 26th April, 2016 filed in support of the application for grant of Income and Caste Certificate, she has stated that the annual income of her family was only Rs. Three lakh fifty thousand; and that she and her husband were not paying income tax and commercial tax. According to the writ petitioners, this declaration was false to the knowledge of the appellant. Further, the caste certificate was issued on the same day of the application without any proper inquiry as required under the law. On these assertions, the matter proceeded before the High Court. We will advert to the explanation offered by the appellant a little later.

In view of the aforesaid reasons, I am of the opinion, since the respondent No. 6 has not declared her correct and proper family income only with an intention to hold the post of Adhyaksha which is a public office, must be prevented from holding the office.” (emphasis supplied) On the said finding and after recording its opinion, the learned Single Judge passed the following order:

We do not intend to express any opinion either way on the pending issues in that proceedings, which are not the subject 52 matter of this appeal. The High Court is free to deal with that writ petition on its own merits in accordance with law.

36. This, however, will make no difference to the conclusion which we must reach in this case that the High Court could not have issued a writ of quo warranto until the Income and Caste Certificate issued in favour of the appellant, on the basis of which she participated in the election for the post of Adhyaksha and got elected, was to be declared void or invalidated by the Caste Scrutiny Committee. We do not wish to dilate on other incidental aspects/arguments as the same will not have any bearing on the conclusion noted above.

38. Accordingly, we allow this appeal and set aside the decisions of the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench of the High Court which are impugned in the present appeal. We, however, dispose of the writ petition filed by the respondents 6 to 9 being Writ Petition No.106417 of 2016 only by directing the Caste Verification Committee to expedite the enquiry regarding the validity of the Income and Caste Certificate issued to the appellant by respondent no.5 and conclude the same preferably within two months and also intimate its final decision to the appellant within the same time. Needless to observe that the Caste Scrutiny Committee will decide the matter on its own merit and without being influenced whatsoever by any observations made in the impugned judgments but in accordance with law. Besides, it shall deal with every contention raised before it by recording tangible reasons.

39. The appeal is allowed in the aforementioned terms with no order as to costs.

.………………………….CJI.

March 6, 2018.