Suresh Jadhav vs The State Of Telangana
2021 Latest Caselaw 3549 Tel

Citation : 2021 Latest Caselaw 3549 Tel
Judgement Date : 18 November, 2021

Telangana High Court

Suresh Jadhav vs The State Of Telangana on 18 November, 2021

Bench: Satish Chandra Sharma, A.Rajasheker Reddy

  THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA
                                     AND
           THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.RAJASHEKER REDDY


                          I.A.No.1 of 2020
                               in/and
                    WRIT APPEAL No.468 of 2020

JUDGMENT:     (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma)


     I.A.No.1 of 2020 has been filed seeking condonation

of delay of 1643 days in filing the writ appeal.

     The present writ appeal is arising out of an order

dated 31.03.2016 passed by the learned Single Judge in

W.P.No.10579 of 2016.

     The undisputed facts of the case reveal that the

Revenue Divisional Officer, Adilabad, has passed an

order dated 12.03.2016 cancelling the caste certificate

issued in favour of the writ petitioner/respondent No.5

herein. In the State of Telangana, the caste certificates

are issued keeping in view the statutory provisions as

contained in the Telangana (Scheduled Castes,

Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of

Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993.

Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the aforesaid statute read as

under:-

"3. Application of a Community Certificate:-

(1) Any person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes may in order to claim the benefit of any reservation provided to such Castes, Tribes or Classes either for any public

appointment or for admission into any educational institution in the State or outside the State for the students of the State or any other benefit under any special provisions made under Clause (4) of Article 15 of the Constitution of India or for the purpose of contesting for elective post in any local authority or for elective posts in the Co-operative Institutions, make an application in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed to the competent authority for the issue of a community certificate.

(2) Any person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe may, for the purpose of claiming any benefit or protection meant for Scheduled Tribes under any notification, direction or regulation made under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India or under any Act, Rule, Regulation or Order for the time being in force in the Scheduled Areas, make an application in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed to the competent authority for the issue of community certificate.

4. Community Certificate to be issued by competent authority:-

(1) The Competent authority may, on an application made to it under section 3, satisfy itself about the genuineness or otherwise of the claim made therein and thereafter issue a community certificate within such period and in such form as may be prescribed or reject the application for reasons to be recorded in writing. A certificate in regard to community issued by any person, officer or authority other than the competent authority shall be invalid. (2) Before the issue or rejection of a certificate under sub-section (1), the competent authority shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.

5. Cancellation of false Community Certificate:- (1) Where, before or after the commencement of this Act a person not belonging to any of the Scheduled

Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes has obtained a false community certificate to the effect that either himself or his children belongs to such Castes, Tribes or Classes, the District Collector may either suo motu or on a written complaint by any person, call for the record and enquire into the correctness of such certificate and if he is of the opinion that the certificate was obtained fraudulently, he shall, by notification, cancel the certificate after giving the person concerned an opportunity of making a representation:

Provided that where an enquiry into the genuineness of a community certificate issued prior to the commencement of this Act has commenced and is pending at such commencement, the record thereof shall be transferred by the concerned authority to the District Collector and he shall continue the enquiry and conclude the same under this subsection. (2) The powers of the nature referred to in sub- section (1) may also be exercised by the Government."

The aforesaid statutory provisions of law make it

very clear that the Tahsildar is competent to issue the

caste certificate and it is the Collector who is competent

to cancel the caste certificate. In the case of the

respondent No.5 in the present appeal, the caste

certificate is on record. It was issued on 08.10.2013.

However, it has been cancelled by the Revenue Divisional

Officer, who is jurisdictionally incompetent to do so.

The order passed by the learned Single Judge reads

as under:-

"Challenge in this writ petition is to the proceedings dated 12.03.2016 passed by the Revenue

Divisional Officer, Adilabad, whereby he cancelled the caste certificate issued to the petitioner by the Tahsildar, Gudihatnoor.

Perusal of the impugned proceedings reflects that the Revenue Divisional Officer did not even purport to exercise powers under the Andhra Pradesh (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993.

In the light of the machinery provided under the aforestated enactment for cancellation of caste certificates, it is not open to the Revenue Divisional Officer, Adilabad, to assume powers unto himself. The impugned proceedings are therefore without jurisdiction and are accordingly set aside on this short ground. This order shall however not preclude the authorities having jurisdiction from initiating action in relation to the petitioner's caste certificate, if warranted, in accordance with the due procedure prescribed under the aforestated enactment.