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“...The filing of a large number of applications for correction of the name of caste from Ezhava/Thiyya to Thandan alleging one and the same reason immediately after inclusion of Thandan community as Scheduled Caste in the 1976 order can prima facie be considered only as a concerted attempt on the part of Section of Ezhavas/Thiyyas to take advantage of the benefits of Scheduled Castes as alleged in the counter affidavit of the first respondent and asserted by the petitioner. It cannot be easily believed that if a person was really a Thandan and as such a Scheduled Caste, his caste would have been noted as Ezhava or Thiyya in the school records. It cannot also be believed easily that in large number of cases for no reason whatsoever the same type of mistake was committed allowed to be on record till Thandan community was included in the list of Scheduled Castes. As such taking a serious view of the entire problem we would hold that in all cases where certificates have been issued on and after 27-7-1977 the date of 1976 order correcting the name of Caste from Ezhava/Thiyya to Thandan and other cases where certificates have been issued changing the Caste into a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe such certificates issued are liable to be declared as of doubtful validly, till they are scrutinised by the scrutiny Committee to be constituted by the first respondent as per the directions we propose to issue in that regard...” (emphasis supplied)

Castes. If any of the members of the family of Shri V.K. Mahanudevan have availed of any of the benefits meant for members of the Sch. Castes, all such benefits availed of shall be recovered.

(iii) If the caste entry in respect of the members of the family of Shri V.K. Mahanudevan as recorded in their academic records is Thandan (SC), it shall be corrected as Ezhava.

(iv) Sch. Caste Certificates shall not be issued to any of the members of the family of Shri V.K. Mahanudevan hereafter. All the Sch. Caste Certificates secured by Shri V.K. Mahanudevan and his family members will stand cancelled.

13. In O.P No. 9216 of 1986, the respondent (writ petitioners in OP) had claimed to be a Thandan by Caste, hence, a Schedule Caste in terms of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976. In the SLCC book the respondent was described as a “Thandan Hindu” but falling in the OBC category. He applied for correction of the SLCC book by deleting his description as an OBC and for treating him as a member of the Scheduled Caste. Since the correction did not come about quickly, he moved to the High Court for a direction against the respondents to treat him as a Scheduled Caste and to make appropriate entries in the relevant record. Kerala Public Service Commission, Director, Harijan Welfare Board, Trivandrum were among others arrayed as respondents to the writ petition. When the matter appeared before a Single Bench of the High Court for hearing, it was reported that Director, Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Kozhikode (KIRTADS) had conducted an anthropological study and recorded a finding that the respondent–writ petitioner before the High Court belonged to Thandan Community and that he was entitled to be treated as a Scheduled Caste. Government advocate representing the respondents appears to have submitted before the Court that the findings recorded by the KIRTADS had been communicated to the Director of Harijan Welfare, Trivandrum–respondent no.3 in the writ petition and accepted by him. It was on these submissions made before the High Court that the Single Bench of the High Court passed an Order dated 25th February, 1987, the operative portion whereof read as under :-

20. To the same effect is the decision in Raju Ramsingh Vasave v. Mahesh Deorao Bhivapurkar and Ors., (2008) 9 SCC 54, where this Court held:

“If a fraud has been committed on the court, no benefits therefrom can be claimed on the basis of thereof or otherwise.”

21. In the case at hand we see no element of fraud in the Order passed by the High Court in O.P.No.9216 of 1986. The order it is evident from a plain reading of the same relies more upon the submissions made before it by the Government Counsel than those urged on behalf of the writ- petitioners (respondents herein). That there was an enquiry by KIRTADS into the caste status of the writ petitioners (respondents herein) which found his claim of being a Thandan justified hence entitled to a scheduled caste certificate has not been disputed. That the report of KIRTADS was accepted by the Director of Harijan Welfare, Trivandrum is also not denied. That apart, the State Government at no stage either before or after the Order passed by the Single Judge of the High Court questioned the conclusions recorded therein till the full bench in Pattika Jathi’s case (supra) expressed doubts about the corrections being made in the records and certificates for the grant of scheduled caste status. That being the case, the High Court could not be said to have been misled or fraudulently misguided into passing an order, leave alone, misled by the writ- petitioners (respondent herein). It is only because the full bench of the Kerala High Court held that anthropological study conducted by KIRTADS may not provide a sound basis for holding Thandan’s like the respondent as those belonging to the scheduled caste category that the issue regarding the correctness of the certificate and a fresh investigation into the matter surfaced for consideration. Even if one were to assume that the conclusion drawn by KIRTADS was not for any reason completely accurate and reliable, the same would not have in the absence of any other material to show that such conclusion and enquiry was a complete farce based on wholly irrelevant or inadmissible material and motivated by extraneous considerations by itself provided a basis for unsettling what stood settled by the order passed by the High Court. Suffice it to say that the contention urged on behalf of the appellants that the order passed by the High Court in O.P. No. 9216 of 1986 was a nullity on the ground of fraud has not impressed us in the facts and circumstances of the case. The upshot of the above discussion, therefore, is that the order passed by the High Court in O.P.No.9216 of 1986 which had attained finality did not permit a fresh enquiry into the caste status of writ-petitioner. Inasmuch as the High Court quashed the said proceedings and the order passed by the State Government pursuant thereto, it committed no error to warrant interference.