Patna High Court
Baidhnath Singh vs The State Of Bihar on 21 June, 2022
Author: Ashwani Kumar Singh
Bench: Ashwani Kumar Singh, Anshuman
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.19084 of 2021
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Baidhnath Singh Son of Motilal Singh R/o Ward no. - 08, Basti Jalal, P.S.-
Dighwara, District -Saran.
... ... Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary, Department of General
Administration, Government of Bihar, Patna.
2. The Principal Secretary, Department of General Administration,
Government of Bihar, Patna.
3. The Additional Secretary, Department of General Administration,
Government of Bihar, Patna.
4. The District Magistrate, Saran, Bihar.
5. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Saran, District - Saran.
6. The Block Development Officer, Dighwara, P.S. Dighwara, District - Saran.
7. The Circle Officer, Dighwara, P.S.- Dighwara, District - Saran.
8. The Revenue Officer, Dighwara Anchal (Dighwara Block Area) P.S.-
Dighwara, District - Saran.
9. The Assistant Returning Officer-cum-Administrative Officer of Panchayati
Elections, Basti Jalal Panchayat area, ward no. - 08, Dighwara Block, P.S.-
Dighwara, District - Saran.
... ... Respondents
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner : Mr. Saket Anand, Advocate
For the Respondents-State: Mr. Saroj Kumar Sharma, AC to AAG-3
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DR. ANSHUMAN
ORAL JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH)
Date : 21-06-2022
In the instant application though the petitioner had
initially made several prayers, he has confined his prayer for
setting aside the order dated 16.10.2021 passed by the Circle
Officer, Dighwara, Saran vide order no.581 dated 16.10.2021
whereby the caste certificate issued to the petitioner declaring
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him to be member of 'Dangi' caste was cancelled.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that
the petitioner belongs to 'Dangi' caste. In this respect, a
certificate was granted to him under the signature of the
Revenue Officer (respondent no.7) on 12.05.2021. He submitted
that the caste 'Dangi' has been placed in schedule I at serial
no.127 of the extremely backward caste vide Notification
No.10398 dated 30.07.2015 of the Government of Bihar. On 24th
August, 2021, the State Election Commission is notified the
Panchayat Elections in the State of Bihar to be held in eleven
phases. The election of the block to which the petitioner
belonged was scheduled to be held on 03.11.2021 in the 6 th
phase of the Panchayat Election, 2021. After filing the
nomination, the impugned order dated 16.10.2021 was passed
by the Circle Officer, Dighwara, Saran cancelling the caste
certificate granted in favour of the petitioner earlier. The Circle
Officer recorded in the impugned order that the petitioner does
not belong to 'Dangi' caste.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that
the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil and
Anr. vs. Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development and
Others since reported in (1994) 6 SCC 241 issued direction
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whereby all the State Governments were directed to constitute a
committee of three officers, namely, (I) an Additional or Joint
Secretary or any officer higher in rank of the Director of the
department concerned, (II) the Director, Social Welfare/Tribal
Welfare/Backward Class Welfare, as the case may be, and (III)
in the case of Scheduled Castes another officer who has intimate
knowledge in the verification and issuance of the social status
certificates. In case of any complaint in respect of caste
certificate, the verification was required to be done by the said
scrutiny committee. He contended that in the instant case, the
caste certificate has been cancelled by the Circle Officer in
complete violation of the direction given by the Hon'ble
Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra). He
contended that the impugned order passed by the Circle Officer
is wholly without jurisdiction.
4. The State has filed its counter affidavit wherein it
has been stated that after submission of the nomination paper by
the petitioner, his attached caste certificate of 'Dangi' caste was
sent to the Circle Officer, Dighwara, Saran by the Block
Development Officer, Dighwara vide letter dated 16.10.2021 for
verification and opinion. Thereafter, the Circle Officer,
Dighwara, Saran duly enquired into the matter and called for a
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detailed report from Halka Karamchari, who after going through
all the relevant papers, reported that in Khatiyan land
appertaining to Thana No.2, Khata No. 96 situated in village-
Basti Jalal under Dighwara Block, Saran is recorded in the name
of Pati Koyeri, Sohayee and Ram Prasad, S/o Sri Ram & Ors,
caste-'Koyeri'. The said Ram Prasad is grandfather of the
petitioner Baidhyanath Singh, who belonged to the 'Koyeri'
caste.
5. Learned counsel appearing for the State submitted
that considering the report of the Halka Karamchari and after
going through the revenue records, the Circle Officer, Dighwara
came to the conclusion that the caste of the petitioner is 'Koyeri'
and not 'Dangi'. He contended that under the aforesaid
circumstance, the Circle Officer rightly cancelled the caste
certificate granted in favour of the petitioner earlier.
6. When confronted without the judgment of the
Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra), he
fairly conceded that the Circle Officer ought not to have passed
the impugned order.
7. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and
perused the materials on record.
8. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri
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Patil (supra) issued altogether fifteen guidelines to streamline
the procedure for social status certificates, their scrutiny and
approval. The relevant guidelines enumerated in Para-13 of the
said judgment are being extracted hereunder for ready reference:
"1. xxx xxx xxx
2. xxx xxx xxx
3. Application for verification of the caste
certificate by the Scrutiny Committee
shall be filed at least six months in
advance before seeking admission into
educational institution or an appointment
to a post.
4. All the State Governments shall
constitute a Committee of three officers,
namely, (I) an Additional or Joint
Secretary or any officer higher in rank of
the Director of the department concerned,
(II) the Director, Social Welfare/Tribal
Welfare/Backward Class Welfare, as the
case may be, and (III) in the case of
Scheduled Castes another officer who has
intimate knowledge in the verification
and issuance of the social status
certificates. In the case of the Scheduled
Tribes, the Research Officer who has
intimate knowledge in identifying the
tribes, tribal communities, parts of or
groups of tribes or tribal communities.
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5. Each Directorate should constitute a
vigilance cell consisting of Senior
Deputy Superintendent of Police in over-
all charge and such number of Police
Inspectors to investigate into the social
status claims. The Inspector would go to
the local place of residence and original
place from which the candidate hails and
usually resides or in case of migration to
the town or city, the place from which he
originally hailed from. The vigilance
officer should personally verify and
collect all the facts of the social status
claimed by the candidate or the parent or
guardian, as the case may be. He should
also examine the school records, birth
registration, if any. He should also
examine the parent, guardian or the
candidate in relation to their caste etc. or
such other persons who have knowledge
of the social status of the candidate and
then submit a report to the Directorate
together with all particulars as envisaged
in the proforma, in particular, of the
Scheduled Tribes relating to their
peculiar anthropological and ethnological
traits, deity, rituals, customs, mode of
marriage, death ceremonies, method of
burial of dead bodies etc. by the castes or
tribes or tribal communities concerned
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etc.
6. The Director concerned, on receipt of
the report from the vigilance officer if he
found the claim for social status to be
"not genuine" or 'doubtful' or spurious or
falsely or wrongly claimed, the Director
concerned should issue show-cause
notice supplying a copy of the report of
the vigilance officer to the candidate by a
registered post with acknowledgement
due or through the head of the
educational institution concerned in
which the candidate is studying or
employed. The notice should indicate that
the representation or reply, if any, would
be made within two weeks from the date
of the receipt of the notice and in no case
on request not more than 30 days from
the date of the receipt of the notice. In
case, the candidate seeks for an
opportunity of hearing and claims an
inquiry to be made in that behalf, the
Director on receipt of such
representation/reply shall convene the
committee and the Joint/Additional
Secretary as Chairperson who shall give
reasonable opportunity to the
candidate/parent/guardian to adduce all
evidence in support of their claim. A
public notice by beat of drum or any
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other convenient mode may be published
in the village or locality and if any person
or association opposes such a claim, an
opportunity to adduce evidence may be
given to him/it. After giving such
opportunity either in person or through
counsel, the Committee may make such
inquiry as it deems expedient and
consider the claims vis-a-vis the
objections raised by the candidate or
opponent and pass an appropriate order
with brief reasons in support thereof.
7. In case the report is in favour of the
candidate and found to be genuine and
true, no further action need be taken
except where the report or the particulars
given are procured or found to be false or
fraudulently obtained and in the latter
event the same procedure as is envisaged
in para 6 be followed.
8. Notice contemplated in para 6 should
be issued to the parents/guardian also in
case candidate is minor to appear before
the Committee with all evidence in his or
their support of the claim for the social
status certificates.
9. The inquiry should be completed as
expeditiously as possible preferably by
day-to-day proceedings within such
period not exceeding two months. If after
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inquiry, the Caste Scrutiny Committee
finds the claim to be false or spurious,
they should pass an order cancelling the
certificate issued and confiscate the same.
It should communicate within one month
from the date of the conclusion of the
proceedings the result of enquiry to the
parent/guardian and the applicant.
10. xxx xxx xxx
11. The order passed by the Committee
shall be final and conclusive only subject
to the proceedings under Article 226 of
the Constitution.
12. No suit or other proceedings before
any other authority should lie.
13. The High Court would dispose of
these cases as expeditiously as possible
within a period of three months. In case,
as per its procedure, the writ
petition/miscellaneous petition/matter is
disposed of by a Single Judge, then no
further appeal would lie against that order
to the Division Bench but subject to
special leave under Article 136.
14. In case, the certificate obtained or
social status claimed is found to be false,
the parent/guardian/the candidate should
be prosecuted for making false claim. If
the prosecution ends in a conviction and
sentence of the accused, it could be
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regarded as an offence involving moral
turpitude, disqualification for elective
posts or offices under the State or the
Union or elections to any local body,
legislature or Parliament.
15. As soon as the finding is recorded by
the Scrutiny Committee holding that the
certificate obtained was false, on its
cancellation and confiscation
simultaneously, it should be
communicated to the educational
institution concerned or the appointing
authority by registered post with
acknowledgement due with a request to
cancel the admission or the appointment.
The Principal etc. of the educational
institution responsible for making the
admission or the appointing authority,
should cancel the admission/appointment
without any further notice to the
candidate and debar the candidate from
further study or continue in office in a
post."
9. It would be pertinent to note here that subsequently
some modification was made in the constitution of the
committee referred to above vide judgment reported in (1997) 5
SCC 437 (Kumari Madhuri Patil and Another vs. Additional
Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others).
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10. In Farzana Sabaff vs. the State of Bihar & Ors.
since reported in 2014 (3) BBCJ 631, a dispute relating to
disqualification on the ground of invalid caste certificate came
before this Court. It would be manifest from the perusal of the
Para-11 of the judgment of the said case that in the counter
affidavit the State had admitted that a committee was duly
constituted pursuant to the direction no.4 given by the Hon'ble
Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra). Para 11 of
the judgment in Farzana Sabaff (supra) is extracted hereunder
for ready reference:
"11. Counter affidavits have been filed on
behalf of the respondent nos. 2 and 3 and also
the respondent no. 4 defending the impugned
order passed by the Collector. On the issue of
constitution of scrutiny committee, raised by
the petitioner during earlier hearings, a
counter affidavit was also filed on behalf of
the Principal Secretary, General
Administration Department, Government of
Bihar stating that the State Government in
compliance of the direction of the Apex Court
contained in Civil Appeal No. 5854 of 1994
(Kumari Madhuri Patil v. Additional
Commissioner, Scheduled Tribes), has
already constituted a Directorate/Committee
dealing with the cases of Scheduled Caste and
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Scheduled Tribes vide memo no. 3887 dated
08.11.2007However, on a question being asked to learned Additional Advocate General No. 11 as to whether a Committee of Directorate formed for concerned purpose for scrutiny of the certificate with respect to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes would be able to verify the certificate granted to the Backward Classes or Extremely Backward Classes, an apparent lacunae appeared and adjournment was sought for rectification specially in view of the direction no. 4 given by the Apex Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra) that for scrutiny of Backward Classes certificate the committee would have to be constituted consisting an Additional or Joint Secretary or any officer higher in rank of the Director of the department concerned, the Director, Social Welfare/Tribal (sic) Welfare/Backward Class Welfare, has not been included in the committee. Thereafter, a supplementary counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Principal Secretary, General Administration Department, Government of Bihar appending therewith another resolution dated 05.02.2014 as Annexure A with a statement that now a separate committee has been formed for making inquiry with respect to caste certificates granted to the Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes. Patna High Court CWJC No.19084 of 2021 dt.21-06-2022 13/14 There is a direction in Annexure A for immediate publication of this decision of the Government in the official Extra-Ordinary Gazette."
11. In the State of Bihar, the caste certificate is issued by Revenue Authorities. After the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (Supra), it has been settled that caste certificate duly issued by the Revenue Authorities who have been delegated with such power cannot be cancelled by the authority who has issued the caste certificate.
12. In the above view of the matter, it would be evident that the Circle Officer was not the competent authority to cancel the caste certificate of the petitioner rather it was the Scrutiny Committee constituted by the State Government which was empowered to do so. In these circumstances, the impugned order dated 16.10.2021 passed by the Circle Officer, Dighwara, Saran as contained in Annexure-5 to the present application is hereby set aside.
13. It would be open to the Circle Officer or any other authority of the State to approach the Scrutiny Committee formed pursuant to the direction issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra) for verification of the Patna High Court CWJC No.19084 of 2021 dt.21-06-2022 14/14 caste certificate of the petitioner and cancellation thereof. In case, such a dispute is raised before the Scrutiny Committee, it shall be required to examine the matter and decide the same in accordance with law as early as possible and preferably, within a period of three months.
14. With the aforesaid observation and direction, the writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated above.
(Ashwani Kumar Singh, J.) (Dr. Anshuman, J.) Sanjeet/-
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