Karnataka High Court
Ravindra H.K vs Karnataka State Financial Corporation on 7 November, 2023
Author: N S Sanjay Gowda
Bench: N S Sanjay Gowda
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WP No. 13360 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 7TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2023
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N S SANJAY GOWDA
WRIT PETITION NO. 13360 OF 2023 (S-RES)
BETWEEN:
1. RAVINDRA H.K
S/O LATE PAMPAIAH,
AGED 60 YEARS,
OCC ASSISTANT K.S.F.C. BANGALORE,
H NO.06, BIKASHIPURA MAIN ROAD,
NEAR INSITE ACADEMY SCHOOL,
ISRO LAYOUT,
BIKSAHIPURA POST,
BENGALURU-560111
...PETITIONER
(BY SRI. R G HEGDE., ADVOCATE)
AND:
Digitally 1. KARNATAKA STATE
signed by FINANCIAL CORPORATION
KIRAN
KUMAR R KSFC BHAVANA, NO.1/1,
Location: THIMMAIAH ROAD,
HIGH NEAR CANTONMENT
COURT OF
KARNATAKA RAILWAY STATION,
BENGALURU-560052
ESTABLISHED BY STATE
FINANCIAL CORPORATION ACT 1961.
BY ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR
2. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
AND CHAIRMAN
DISTRICT CASTE
VERIFICATION COMMITTEE,
KALABURGI DISTRICT,
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WP No. 13360 of 2023
KALABURGI-585103
...RESPONDENTS
(BY SRI. BIPIN HEGDE., ADVOCATE FOR R-1;
SRI.C.JAGADEESH, ADVOCATE FOR R-2)
THIS WRIT PETITION IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226
AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, PRAYING TO CALL
FOR THE RECORDS AND QUASH THE ORDER PASSED BY THE
R-1 DATED 24.5.2023 VIDE ANNEXURE-L BY THE ISSUE OF
WRIT OF CERTIORARI SUCH OTHER WRIT OR ORDER AS IN
THE CIRCUMSTANCES, ETC.
THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR ORDERS, THIS DAY,
THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:
ORDER
1. The brief facts of the case are as under:
(a) On 30.03.1992, the Tahsildar issued a Certificate of Verification in favour of the petitioner to the effect that the petitioner belongs to the "Beda Jangam"
caste, which was recognized as a Scheduled Caste, and on the strength of the said Certificate, the petitioner sought an employment with the Karnataka State Financial Corporation--respondent No.1 (hereinafter referred to as "the KSFC", for brevity).-3-
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(b) The KSFC accepted the application of the petitioner and appointed him as an Assistant (Trainee) on 12.11.1992. This appointment was made on the premise that the petitioner belonged to a Scheduled Caste.
(c) On 14.06.1993, the KSFC submitted the Caste Certificate furnished by the petitioner for verification, to the Tahsildar. The Tahsildar, by his letter dated 05.08.1993, confirmed that he had issued the Caste Certificate on 30.03.1992 in favour of the petitioner.
(d) Despite the said letter, the KSFC sought further information as to whether the petitioner belonged to a Scheduled Caste or another category.
(e) The Tahsildar, on the basis of the said request, secured a report from the Revenue Inspector and on that basis, passed an order on 02.11.1996 holding that the petitioner belonged to the caste of "Lingayath (Jangam)".
(f) On the basis of this order, the Deputy Commissioner, Gulbarga, also proceeded to pass an order -4- NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 on 13.11.1996. This communication was forwarded by the Deputy Commissioner to the KSFC and on the basis of this letter, the KSFC proceeded to issue a show-cause notice dated 16.01.1997 to the petitioner.
(g) Being aggrieved by these orders of the Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner, the petitioner preferred Writ Petition No.3787 of 1997 [GM] before this Court. This Court, in the said writ petition, passed an interim order on 09.04.1997 in the following terms:
"ORDER Heard in-part.
Keeping in view the allegation that the petitioner has obtained employment on the basis of forge and fabricated caste certificate, respondent-Deputy Commissioner is directed to get the matter enquired into by the Civil Rights Enforcement Call.
Let the report be placed before this Court on 2.6.1997."-5-
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(h) On the basis of this interim order, an enquiry was conducted by the Civil Rights Enforcement Cell ("the CRE Cell", for short) and a report was also submitted to this Court in the said writ petition. The report of the CRE Cell was to the effect that the petitioner did belong to the "Beda Jangam" caste.
(i) This Court, thereafter, proceeded to allow the writ petition by an order dated 07.07.1999 and quashed the orders passed by the Tahsildar dated 02.11.1996 and by the Deputy Commissioner dated 13.11.1996. This Court took the view that the Deputy Commissioner and the Tahsildar could not have passed the orders impugned therein without affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.
(j) This Court also took the view that the Deputy Commissioner had no jurisdiction to decide whether the petitioner belonged to a particular caste and that matter could have only been verified by the Caste Verification Committee ("the CVC" for short). This Court, accordingly, -6- NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 concluded that the Deputy Commissioner and the Tahsildar had no jurisdiction to pass the orders dated
02.11.1996 and 13.11.1996, by which it had been indicated that the petitioner belonged to the Lingayat caste.
(k) This order dated 07.07.1999 was neither challenged by the Authorities nor by the KSFC.
(l) Pursuant to the order passed by this Court, the KSFC requested the CVC to verify the authenticity of the Caste Certificate so as to facilitate it to take further steps.
(m) The CVC proceeded to take the view that the Caste Certificate issued on 30.03.1992 i.e., prior to the constitution of the CVC could not be inquired into by it, since it had no jurisdiction to decide on the correctness or otherwise of the Caste Certificates which had been issued prior to its constitution.
(n) The CVC relied upon the Circular of the Government dated 04.03.2005 which had been issued -7- NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 pursuant to the order passed in W.P. No.36702 of 2000 and connected matters, whereby this Court had held that the CVC had no jurisdiction to inquire into the correctness or otherwise of the Caste Certificates which had been issued prior to coming into force of the Karnataka Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes (Reservation of Appointments etc), Rules, 1993.
(o) Thus, on 21.01.2008, the CVC gave its ruling that it had no jurisdiction to inquire into the authenticity of the caste certificate of the petitioner. This order was not challenged and had become final.
(p) Thereafter, the State Government issued a Government Order on 24.04.2013 delegating the powers to the District Caste Verification Committee ("the DCVC", for short) to verify the genuineness or otherwise, of all the Caste Certificates which had been issued even prior to 1993.
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(q) Pursuant to this Government Order, a request was made to the CVC to once again verify the Caste Certificate issued to the petitioner and the DCVC proceeded to pass an order on 10.12.2015 and came to the conclusion that the petitioner did not belong to the "Beda Jangam" caste and the Caste Certificate dated 30.03.1992 issued in favour of the petitioner was cancelled.
(r) The petitioner, being aggrieved by this order, preferred an appeal.
(s) One of the grounds raised by the petitioner in the appeal was that the Chairman of the DCVC had alone signed the order and that this was a clear violation of the statutory provisions.
(t) This appeal of the petitioner was accepted and the order of the DCVC was set aside by an order dated 22.04.2017, and the matter was remitted to the DCVC. -9-
NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 However, despite the remand, the DCVC did not take up the proceedings and did not dispose of the appeal.
(u) In the midst of this lengthy process pertaining to the caste of the petitioner which spanned 30 years, the petitioner's employment at KSFC came to an end. Upon attaining the age of superannuation on 31.05.2023, the petitioner was permitted to retire. However, litigation did not stop pursuing him.
(v) The KSFC, while permitting him to retire, withheld the retiral benefits of the petitioner on the ground that the veracity of the petitioner's caste was pending adjudication with the DCVC and action would be taken after receipt of the report from the DCVC.
(w) Being aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner has preferred the present writ petition.
2. As could be seen from the above facts, it becomes glaringly clear that though the petitioner was appointed on 12.11.1992 and was permitted to retire on 31.05.2023
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 (after rendering about 31 years of service), the issue of his Caste verification lingered without attaining any finality. The net result of this is that the petitioner, despite serving the KSFC with a full service of 31 years, the KSFC was depriving him of his retrial benefits. To put it differently, though the work life of the petitioner came to an end, the looming shadow of the veracity of his caste did not desert him and was still the subject matter of adjudication.
3. In this background, the facts of the case and the legal position relating to a person's caste and the fate of his employment would have to be analysed.
4. As already stated above, on the petitioner being appointed in the year 1992, his Caste Certificate was sent for confirmation to the Tahsildar, and the Tahsildar, by his communication dated 14.06.1993, confirmed the fact that he had issued the said Caste Certificate to the petitioner. It may be relevant to state here that as on 14.06.1993, the CVC was yet to be constituted and therefore, the only
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 method for verification of his caste was to correspond with the authorities which had issued the Caste Certificate and seek its confirmation. Admittedly, in this case, upon the Tahsildar's confirmation that he had issued the Caste Certificate to the petitioner, the curtain ought to have been drawn on the entire episode.
5. However, the KSFC proceeded to engage in correspondence with the Revenue Authorities and wanted to ascertain as to whether the petitioner belonged to the Scheduled Caste as claimed by him. This led to the passing of two orders on 02.11.1996 and 13.11.1996, by the Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner (respectively), wherein they concluded that the Caste Certificate issued to the petitioner was required to be cancelled, though they had not even heard the petitioner in that regard.
6. The petitioner approached this Court in W.P. No.3787 of 1997 and in this writ petition, an interim order was passed, directing the CRE Cell to inquire into the caste of the petitioner and submit a report. Accordingly, the CRE
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 Cell submitted its report holding that the petitioner belonged to the "Beda Jangam" caste which, admittedly, is a Scheduled Caste.
7. It may also be pertinent to state here that this report of the CRE Cell was not rejected by this Court and this Court, ultimately, allowed the writ petition on the ground that the Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner had no jurisdiction to inquire into the caste of the petitioner and it was only the CVC who could take a decision in that regard.
8. Thus, as of 1999, there was a CRE Cell report which stated that the petitioner did belong to the "Beda Jangam"
caste and the same was also placed on record in W.P. No.3787 of 1997, but the matter did not attain finality despite the order passed by this Court.
9. Notwithstanding this order, the KSFC approached the CVC and requested it to verify the authenticity of the petitioner's caste certificate. However, the CVC proceeded to pass a categorical order stating that it had no
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 jurisdiction to verify the Caste Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner, since it had been issued in the year 1992, i.e., prior to its constitution on 11.11.1993.
10. This decision of the DCVC that it could not verify the Caste Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner was accepted by the KSFC and had attained finality but the woes of the petitioner regarding his caste certificate lingered on.
11. Despite an order being passed by the CVC on 21.01.2008, on the basis of another Government Order which had been issued five years thereafter, i.e., on 24.04.2013, stating that the CVC could verify the genuineness or otherwise of the Caste Certificates issued prior to 1993, proceedings were once again initiated regarding the caste certificate of the petitioner.
12. In my view, though the order dated 21.01.2008 was not challenged by the KSFC or by anyone else, the matter
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 relating to the caste certificate of the petitioner ought to have come to an end.
13. It may be pertinent to state here that there were neither any judicial pronouncements nor statutory provisions/Government Orders which nullified all the orders that had been passed by the DCVC, holding that it had no jurisdiction to examine the veracity of the Caste Certificates issued prior to 1993. Consequently, the KSFC could not have approached the CVC for the second time and the CVC could not have also embarked upon an enquiry in this regard, especially when the CRE cell had enquired into the matter at the instance of this Court and had opined that the petitioner did belong to the Beda Jangam caste.
14. It would have to be stated here that once an Authority constituted under a statute passes an order stating it had no jurisdiction and that the said order had attained finality, the very same Authority cannot obviously entertain a second request to inquire into the very same
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 allegation that it had refused to go into on the earlier occasion.
15. As already stated above, the petitioner was appointed in the year 1992 and the Tahsildar (in 1993) had confirmed that he had issued the certificate, pursuant to which, this Court set aside the cancellation of the caste verification by the Deputy Commissioner and the Tahsildar. Despite this, the verification of his caste continued till 2008 i.e., for a period of 16 years, when a decision was rendered that his caste could not be verified by the Committee, for want of jurisdiction.
16. It will have to be borne in mind that in the midst of this protracted litigation, by virtue of the interim order passed by this Court, the CRE Cell had also conducted an enquiry and had submitted a report that the petitioner belonged to the "Beda Jangam" caste and this, as a consequence, indicated that the Caste Certificate which had been issued in favour of the petitioner that he belonged to the "Beda Jangam" caste, was genuine.
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17. In my view, since the order dated 21.01.2008 passed by the CVC held that it had no jurisdiction to verify the Caste Certificate, the entire proceedings regarding the caste of the petitioner had become final and conclusive in favour of the petitioner.
18. This order, which was not challenged by the KSFC, would lead to the inescapable conclusion that the question of the petitioner's caste had attained finality. This order, when read in conjunction with the report by the CRE Cell and the order passed by this Court in W.P. No.3787 of 1997 that the petitioner belonged to the "Beda Jangam"
caste, would only mean that the petitioner's caste stood confirmed as "Beda Jangam".
19. If the fact that this Court quashed the orders passed by the Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner who had cancelled the caste certificate is also taken into consideration, it would be rather plain and clear that the validity of the Caste Certificate which had been issued on 30.03.1992 stood affirmed.
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20. In this view of the matter, the proceedings initiated by the CVC for the second time in the year 2015 on the basis of a Government Order of the year 2013, would be wholly without jurisdiction. Consequently, the revival of the proceedings by the CVC by virtue of the order of remand by the appellate authority, would also be completely without jurisdiction.
21. To reiterate, once the CVC had held that it had no jurisdiction to decide on the caste of the petitioner, the very same CVC could not entertain a second request and embark upon another enquiry.
22. The impugned orders, therefore, cannot be sustained and are liable to be quashed.
23. However, the learned counsel appearing for the State, Sri.C.Jagadeesh, strenuously contended that the petitioner was guilty of a serious wrong-doing and such person should not be granted any indulgence.
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24. He submitted that the Hon'ble Supreme Court had held in several cases that there was an urgent need to ensure that the Caste Certificates are not misused, and immediate and stringent steps were to be taken to weed out the persons who had furnished false Caste Certificates. He, therefore, submitted that the petitioner would have to subject himself to an enquiry and that he could not escape the conclusions of the enquiry on technicalities.
25. As already stated above, once the CVC passed an order holding that it had no jurisdiction to decide upon the caste of the petitioner, that order passed by a quasi- judicial authority, having attained finality, cannot be undone. A quasi-judicial authority, which has been conferred with a specific power to adjudicate upon the Caste Certificates issued, having held that it had no jurisdiction, cannot, by virtue of a subsequent Government Order, regain jurisdiction.
26. In the context of the present case, wherein an interim order was passed in W.P. No.3787 of 1997 and a
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 report was submitted affirming that the petitioner belongs to the "Beda Jangam" caste, the argument that the petitioner should be subjected to one more enquiry of the DCVC cannot be sustained.
27. Reliance placed by the learned Counsel on the decision rendered by the Apex Court in the case of Bank of India v. Avinash D Mandivikar reported in (2005) 7 SCC 690 would be of no avail, since the Apex Court therein was considering a case where the employee had obtained an employment on the basis that he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe and the Scrutiny Committee had recorded a clear finding that the employee did not belong to a Scheduled Tribe, and in that context, it was held that the long service rendered by the employee would be of no avail.
28. As noticed above, the CRE cell conducted an enquiry on the basis of a direction issued by this Court and reported that the petitioner belonged to the Beda Jangama caste and this report was also filed in Court. The Court
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 quashed the order cancelling the caste certificate and the CVC passed an order that it did not have jurisdiction to examine the caste certificate. Thus, this is not a case where a competent authority has determined that the petitioner did not belong to a Scheduled Caste.
29. In fact, in the case of Kumari Madhuri Patil vs Addl Commissioner, Tribal Development, reported in (1994) 6 SCC 241, the Apex Court has held that certificates issued should be scrutinized at the earliest and with utmost expedition and promptitude. Thus, the determination of the authenticity of a person's caste or caste certificate cannot be permitted to be undertaken after he has retired from service.
30. A rather striking fact which stares out in this case is that the petitioner has completed his entire working career in the KSFC after rendering a full and complete service of 31 years and yet, the question regarding his caste is still in doubt. The question of caste becomes crucial in our country, only because employment is also obtained on the
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NC: 2023:KHC:39750 WP No. 13360 of 2023 basis of one's caste. However, if the legality of a person's appointment which was obtained on the basis of his caste is not resolved even after he had completed his tenure, the entire process of determining the authenticity of his case becomes a travesty of justice and a completely futile exercise. To put it differently, if despite attaining the age of superannuation, the validity of an appointment based on caste is sought to be adjudicated upon, it would be a rather absurd, if not a tragical situation.
31. In my view, it will therefore have to be held that the authorities have no jurisdiction to decide upon the caste certificate issued in favour of the petitioner, because of the order passed by this Court and also the order of the CVC passed on 21.01.2008. As a consequence, the impugned endorsement issued by the KSFC withholding the retrial benefits of the petitioner would have to be quashed and is, accordingly, quashed.
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32. The KSFC is consequently directed to make over all the retrial benefits to the petitioner within two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
33. It is made clear that the proceedings which are pending before the DCVC as per Annexure 'K' shall also stand quashed and no further proceedings shall be held in the matter of the petitioner's Caste Certificate.
34. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed.
Sd/-
JUDGE RK CT: SN List No.: 1 Sl No.: 64