Kerala High Court
T. Kocha vs State Of Kerala Rep. By Its Secretary on 5 September, 2012
Author: Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan
Bench: Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan, A.V.Ramakrishna Pillai
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE THOTTATHIL B.RADHAKRISHNAN
&
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.V.RAMAKRISHNA PILLAI
WEDNESDAY, THE 5TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2012/14TH BHADRA 1934
MFA.No. 118 of 2004 (C)
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NO..10098/2003 of SCRUITINY COMMITTEE OF SC/ST CLAIM
APPELLANT(S):
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T. KOCHA, W/O. SWAMINATHAN,
AZHIPADAM HOUSE, MANALIPADAM, MUDAPPALLUR P.O.
PALAKKAD.
BY ADVS.SMT.V.P.SEEMANDINI (SR.)
SRI.M.R.ANISON
SRI.M.S.UNNIKRISHNAN
RESPONDENT(S):
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1. STATE OF KERALA REP. BY ITS SECRETARY
TO GOVT., SCHEDULED CASTES AND SCHEDULED
TRIBES DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, GOVT.SECRETARIAT
TRIVANDRUM.
2. THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE FOR
VERIFACTION OF COMMUNITY CERTIFICATE, REP. BY
ITS CHARMAN, SCHEDULED CASTES AND SCHEDULED
TRIBES DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, GOVT. SECRETARIAT
TRIVANDRUM.
3. THE VIGILANACE CELL OF KIRTADS,
REP. BY ITS VIGILANCE OFFICER, DIRECTORATE
OF KIRTADS, KOZHIKODE-17.
4. THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTIONS,
TRIVANDRUM.
5. THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,
PALAKKAD.
BY SPL.GOVERNMENT PLEADER P.K.SANTHAMMA
THIS MISC. FIRST APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 05-09-
2012, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
jm
THOTTATHIL B.RADHAKRISHNAN
&
A.M.SHAFFIQUE, JJ.
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M.F.A.No.118 of 2004
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Dated this the 5th day of September, 2012
JUDGMENT
Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan,J.
1. This appeal under section 12(3) of the Kerala (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Regulation of issue of Community Certificates Act, 1996 is filed challenging the proceedings of the scrutiny committee, by which, the appellant is found to have failed to prove her claim that she belongs to Thandan community entitling her to be treated as a member of that scheduled caste.
2.The scrutiny committee subjected the claim of the appellant to detailed enquiry by the vigilance officer, KIRTADS. After due notice to her, the vigilance officer finalised the enquiry report and submitted the same to the scrutiny committee. That report categorically disproves the Scheduled Caste (Thandan) claimed by the appellant. According to that report, the MFA.118/04 2 appellant actually belongs to Thiyya (OBC) community. Following due procedure of issuance of show cause notice and hearing, the scrutiny committee concluded that the appellant is not entitled to the benefit of any certificate that she is a member of the Scheduled Caste (Thandan) community.
3.In this appeal, the appellant contents and it has been argued on her behalf that she and her family members have obtained community certificates from various authorities and in various pre-independence documents, the members of her family were shown to be belonging to the caste Thandan. It is further argued that the scrutiny committee erred in the matter of appreciating the true facts; the documents produced by the appellant were not considered and that no cogent reason has been stated by the committee to reject the documents which the appellant produced to show that her mother's family belongs to Thandan community.
MFA.118/04 3
4.Ext.R1(a) report of the vigilance officer of KIRTADS is found to have been made on the basis of the materials appended thereto. Those materials justified the kinship chart which is document No.28 in that report. The claimant's mother's brother's daughter Parvathy is shown as Thiyya in 1969. Her mother's brother's son Theyyan is shown as Thiyya. Claimant's paternal grand-mother's brother's son-in-law Kannan and his son Rajesh and daughter Radhika are shown as Nairs. Claimant's maternal uncle's daughter Thankamma is shown as BW. Claimant's maternal uncle's son Rajan is shown as Thiyya. Claimant's maternal aunt's daughter Radha and her brother Narayanan are shown as backward. Claimant's maternal aunt's daughter Parvathy is shown as OBC. Claimant's sister Lakshmi is shown as Hindu. Claimant's another sister Rugmini is shown as Thiyan. Claimant's sister Vasantha, shown as Ezhava, was changed to Thandan in 1974. The claimant (appellant) Kocha is shown as Thiyya in 1964 and in 1978, the entry in her SSLC book has been changed from Hindu to Thandan. Claimant's husband, his father and his different MFA.118/04 4 relatives are shown as either Ezhava, Hindu or OBC.
5.The aforesaid findings of facts based on the materials on record cannot, in fact, be disputed by the appellant. The explanation attempted by her is not one of denial of those documents but that it was only in 1976 that Thandan of Malabar was included in the list of Scheduled Castes and therefore, the entries before that cannot be treated as unusual. We are not impressed by that plea. It is not as if the committee had not considered the documents produced by the appellant. Those documents were adverted to, including to note the traditional occupation of the persons described in those documents and the factual conclusions arrived at by the competent authority do not merit interference in appeal. The reason for rejecting the documents were also justified because the appellant could not even meet the fact that even the direct sister Vasantha was shown as 'Ezhava' in the school admission register. The explanation of the appellant that it was a mere mistake was not accepted by the competent authority. The MFA.118/04 5 findings based on marital relationships and the emphasis given by the competent authority to the materials relied on by it cannot be found to be out of place. In fact, the documents submitted by the claimants during enquiry were appropriately evaluated and their contents noted and discussed, leading to the conclusion that the mere description in the documents by themselves do not prove the caste status of a person as being a member of the Scheduled Caste (Thandan). The scrutiny committee has also rightly relied on the judgments of this Court in O.P.No.13956/99 and W.A.No.789/96 in support of its views in the process of appreciating the relevant facts to conclude that the claimant belongs to Thiyya community and had secured employment against the quota reserved for Scheduled Castes. The caste name originally shown in her SSLC book as Thiyya was changed in 1978 as Thandan. That change has been rightly found to be incorrect. Having regard to the nature of the findings, this is not a case where the members of the family of the appellant were originally referred to as Thandans and later referred to as Thiyyas or Ezhavas. MFA.118/04 6 Going by the materials, it is a clear case where they were referred to as Thiyyas and the appellant obtained the entry in her SSLC book corrected as Thandan in 1978. Therefore, the Constitution (Scheduled Casts) Order (Amendment) Act, 2007 and the decision of this Court in Madhavan P. v. State of Kerala [2010(2) KHC 739 (DB)] have no application to her benefit.
6.There is no merit in this appeal. The appeal fails. In the result, the appeal is dismissed. No costs.
Sd/-
THOTTATHIL B.RADHAKRISHNAN Judge.
Sd/-
A.M.SHAFFIQUE Judge.
kkb.