JUDGMENT

S. Saghir Ahmad, J.-Respondent is a member of the Indian Administrative and Allied Services. He was appointed in 1968 against a reserved vacancy as he was treated to belong to "Nuniya" community which was declared to be a Scheduled Caste community in the State of West Bengal and not in the State of Bihar where the respondent was born and had his schooling throughout even upto Graduate level. It was for this reason that the Comptroller and Auditor General wrote to the respondent that he cannot be treated as a member of the Scheduled Caste community. This letter was received by the respondent while he was working as Deputy Accountant General and had been selected for Post Graduate Diploma Course in Financial Studies in the United Kingdom under Colombo Plan. While he had made all preparations and even purchased the air-ticket to proceed to the United Kingdom, he received the above letter which scuttled his programme.

2. Respondent, at that stage, approached the Central Administrative Tribunal where he contended that he belonged to "Nuniya" caste and the Caste Certificate produced by him at the time of his examination, which was duly checked and verified by the Union Public Serv