The main legal point established in the judgment is the invalidation of the caste certificate and the overruling of previous decisions by a larger bench, leading to the dismissal of the first respondent's writ petition.

JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, CJI.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises from a judgment dated 30 October 2019 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Orissa.

3. On 17 October 1998, the first respondent joined the service of the appellant as a Junior Assistant against a post reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes. In support of her plea of belonging to a Scheduled Caste, the first respondent submitted a caste certificate which was issued by the Tehsildar, Bhubaneswar. The caste certificate was issued on 5 January 1996 in Miscellaneous Case No. 7/1996, mentioning that the first respondent belonged to a Scheduled Caste “Dewar.”

4. On 2 August 2011, the appellant requested the Sub-Collector, Khurda (the fourth respondent) to enquire into the veracity of the caste certificate on the ground that the high school certificate and provisional marks sheet of the first respondent at the 12th standard examination revealed that she was a Brahmin. On 3 August 2011, the Sub- Collector directed an enquiry to verify the authenticity of the caste certificate issued to the first respondent.

5. On 5 August 2011, the Tehsildar (the second respondent) issued a notice to show cause to the first respondent after registering Rev. Misc. Case No. 47 of 2011. In her response dated 16 August 2011, the first respondent stated she was born into a Brahmin family. However, she claimed to have attained the status of a Scheduled Caste upon her marriage on 21 July 1993 to a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste.

6. On 16 August 2011, the Tehsildar passed an order cancelling the caste certificate of the first respondent under Rule 8(2) of the Orissa Caste Certificate (for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Rules, 1980. Placing reliance on the decisions of this Court in Valsamma Paul vs. Cochin University, (1996) 3 SCC 545 and Anjan Kumar vs. Union of India, (2006) 3 SCC 257 the Tehsildar rejected the submissions of the first respondent that as a result of marriage, she had become a member of a Scheduled Caste. The Tehsildar also relied on the directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs dated 2 May 1975 stating that a person who is not a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe by birth will not be deemed to belong to the reserved community. Moreover, the Tehsildar noted that the husband of the first respondent belonged to the “Kaibarta” caste, but the caste certificate of the first respondent showed her as belonging to the “Dewar” caste. Therefore, the Tehsildar observed that the first respondent had misled the authority at the time of the grant of the caste certificate.

7. Following the cancellation of the caste certificate, the appellant commenced disciplinary proceedings against the first respondent on 26 August 2011 by issuing a memorandum of charges under the Orissa Civil Services (Classification, Control, and Appeal) Rules, 1962. An enquiry officer was appointed to inquire into the charges against the first respondent. The first respondent was permitted to participate in the enquiry.

8. On 13 January 2012, the enquiry officer submitted the report, a copy of which was served on the first respondent in order to furnish an opportunity of submitting her representation on the findings. Thereafter, the disciplinary authority proposed to dismiss the first respondent from service and recover the salary which was paid to her upon the findings in the enquiry. A show cause notice was issued to the first respondent.

9. The first respondent challenged the order cancelling her caste certificate before the Collector, Khurda. By an order dated 23 March 2012, the Collector rejected the appeal of the first respondent and upheld the order of the Tehsildar dated 16 August 2011 cancelling her caste certificate.

10. On 13 March 2012, the appellant passed an order dismissing the first respondent from service. The appellant also ordered recovery of all the money received by the first respondent towards her salary and other perquisites during service. The first res