Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

4. Briefly stated the facts of the case are follows. The petitioners represent the Scheduled Caste Community. In view of the special benefits provided for the Scheduled Castes by the Government there has been an attempt on the part of the other backward classes to masquerade themselves as Scheduled Castes and infiltrate into it with a view to grab the constitutional concessions meant for Scheduled Castes and consequently the genuine Scheduled Castes are deprived of the benefits. According to him, by taking advantage of the procedure prescribed for correcting the entries in the S.S. L.C. book and other school records under Exts. P2 to P4 and on the strength of the reports and recommendations of Dr. P.R.G. Mathur who was then the Director of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Calicut (KIRTADS) hundreds and thousands of persons belonging to Ezhava/ Thiyya Caste corrected their caste into that of Thandan Castes. According to him, Exts. P2 to P4 were designed to help the change of communities in the guise of correction of entries. According to the learned counsel the orders in Exts. P3 and P4 are ultra vires of Rule 3, Chapter VI of the Kerala Education Rules, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). He further contends that the action of respondents I to 7 in facilitation, the change of caste are done in violation of Articles 15, 16 and 46 of the Constitution of India.

16. Mrs. Seemanthini while supporting corrections of caste entries in the school records from Ezhava/Thiyya to Scheduled Caste, submits that mistakes have to be corrected whenever it occurs. The fact that in school records, the community of some persons were wrongly shown as Thiyyan, it will not in any way deny the right to be treated as S.C. Thandan if they really belong to the caste. It should not be looked as a change of caste but only as a correction of an error or mistake. The same cannot be characterised as changing the caste. Learned counsel submits that corrections validly made under relevant law during the relevant time cannot be subsequently declared as illegal. All these corrections were made only by following the procedure as prescribed. The learned counsel strongly defended the reports submitted by. Dr. P.R.G. Mathur, who according to her is a well known social Scientist and a renowned anthropologist of international repute. She has referred to the qualifications of Dr. P.R.G. Mathur and according to her, the findings of Dr. Mathur is based on scientific analysis. By relying on the findings of Edgar Thurston and L.K.. Anantha Krsihna Iyer she submitted that Thandan is a distinct caste living in the Malabar area. According to her, the petitioners have no locus standi to challenge the corrections made and prayed for the dismissal of Original Petition.

26. While sustaining the validity of the procedure prescribed for alterations and changes, it has to be understood that the power to correct or alter the entries made in the school records should not be exercised so as to effect change in the caste of the candidates. As a matter of fact, it is conceded by the respondents that only in cases of genuine errors and mistakes the provisions should be invoked and in the case of corrections and alterations there should not be any scope for change of caste. If there is any misuse of power taking advantage of the provisions, the same has to be declared as illegal. It is a matter of concern as evidenced by the counter affidavit of the first respondent, in paragraph 12, that in majority of cases reported during the period from 1979 to early 1987, the non-Scheduled Caste persons who had declared their caste name as Thiyya for the purpose of academic records, managed to get the caste name corrected as Thandan on the basis of the so called anthropological reports of Dr. P. R. G. Mathur former Director of KIRTADS. The Government has also produced a list of persons who had got Scheduled Caste Thandan Certificates after showing their caste name as Thiyya/Thandan (O.B.C.) in the S.S.L.C. book under Ext. R1(R) and another list, Ext. R1 (S), of persons who have applied for change of caste. The first respondent has stated in paragraph 15 of the counter affidavit that it has no objection in declaring that the change of the caste from Thiyya/Ezhava/Thandan (O. B. C.) to Thandan (S.C.) is illegal and null and void ab initio as has been prayed for by the petitioners. The Director of Scheduled Caste Development in his communication addressed to the Secretary to Government dated 21-11-1985 (Ext. R1 (M)) has brought to the notice of the Government that there is a tendecy to change the community from Thiyya to Thandan in order to circumvent the law. It has also been pointed out in the said letter that on examination of the petitions received reveals that in more than 90% of the petitions for change of community from Thiyya/Ezhava to Thandan, the contention of the petitioners is that they were admitted in the school as Thiyyas by mistake.

The Supreme Court ultimately held that the procedure set out above could be fair and just and shorten the undue delay and also prevent avoidable expenditure for the State on the education of the candidate admitted/appointed on false social status or further continuance therein, every State concerned should endeavour to give effect to it and see that the constitutional objectives intended for the benefit and advancement of the genuine Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes or backward classes, as the case may be are not defeated by unscrupulous persons. While it is mandatory for the State Government to constitute a committee as per the directions of the Supreme Court and follow the procedure as laid down, the same committee shall go into the claims of the caste status of those persons who had corrected their caste names from the school records and got a community certificate on that basis. It is admitted that the Government is maintaining a register containing the names of those persons who got the community certificates by claiming changes or corrections in the earlier certificates. All these changes which have been effected have to be reopened for the purpose of verification by the committee referred to above. Accordingly, prayer (d) in the original petition is allowed to the extent that the change of caste in school records by substituting the name of Scheduled Caste in the place of the name of Caste or Community coming under the category of other backward classes in school records are to be verified by the Committee and should be confirmed whether those caste status is genuine or not and issue an order to that effect in respect of a particular candidate to the concerned institution or authority for necessary action. The whole exercise of this verification should be completed within a period of one year from the date of this order.