Point of law : As seen from sub-rule (10) of Rule 9, the Commissioner of Tribal Welfare/Director of Tribal Welfare, either suo motu or on a written complaint by any person made by an employer/educational institution, shall enquire into the correctness of any community certificate already issued and if it is found that the said certificate is fraudulent, he has to refer the cases to the concerned District Collector for cancellation as per Section 5 of the Act 16 of 1993. The contention of the learned senior counsel is that only sub-rule (10) applies so far as tribals are concerned is not correct and sub-rule (10) only empowers the Commissioner of Tribal Welfare to enquire a complaint given by any person or request made by an employer or an educational institution and to refer the same to the concerned Collector.

ORDER :

As all these writ petitions are filed questioning the similar impugned notice dated 07.01.2019 issued by the Chairman & Joint Collector, District Level Scrutiny Committee (DLSC), Kakinada, East Godavari District, directing the petitioners to appear for re-enquiry, they are being disposed by a common order.

2. Impugned notice dated 07.01.2019 was issued to all the writ petitioners under Form-VI of A.P. (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificates Rules 1997 (for short ‘Rules of 1997’) and the said rules were issued in exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 20 of A.P. (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993 (Act 16 of 1993).

3. Case of the petitioners in all these writ petitions is that, they were issued valmiki ST caste certificates in the year 2018 and basing on some fake complaint, impugned notices under Form VI were issued to all the writ petitioners, contemplating de nova enquiry into the caste certificates; parents of the petitioners were also issued Valmiki scheduled tribe caste certificates; notices do not disclose the basis of the said enquiry and the respondents ought to have verified the genuineness of the said complaint before issuance of notices to the petitioners; according to Rule 5(i) of the said Rules of 1997, the Competent Authority alone shall refer the matter to the Scrutiny Committee in doubtful claims and in the present case, there is no doubt entertained by the Competent Authority and prayed to set aside the impugned notice dated 07.01.2019.

4. When WP Nos.1052, 1685, 1723, 1728, 1739, 1744, 1753, 1776 of 2019 came up for admission, interim stay of all further proceedings until further orders were granted. Basing on the same in similar writ petitions i.e., WP Nos.1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943 of 2019, interim orders were granted on 05.03.2019 and in WP Nos.3723, 3761, 3762 and 3764 of 2019 on 20.03.2019.

5. Counter-affidavit along with vacate stay petition was filed by the Collector, East Godavari District, stating inter-alia that Adivasi Samkshema Parishad filed a complaint before the Collector, alleging that the revenue authorities are issuing several bogus scheduled tribe caste certificates in all the seven mandals of Rampachodavaram ITDA area, namely, Rampachodavaram, Devipatnam, Maredumilli, Gangavaram, Addateegala, Y.Ramavaram and Rajavommangi, due to which much injustice is caused to the original tribal people and requested to stop issuance of caste certificates without causing proper enquiry; on 20.10.2018, the tribes from the above said mandals have led a procession to the office of the Project Officer, ITDA, Rampachodavaram and started agitation against the then Tahsildar, Rajavommangi and other revenue officials who are responsible for issuance of bogus caste certificates in Grama Sabhas in Rampachodavaram Revenue Division; the then Joint Collector, East Godavari conducted a meeting with Adivasi Sanghams of Rampachaodavaram Division and assured that the caste certificates issued from 01.04.2018 would be verified and accordingly, teams have been constituted with five Tahsildars for verification of the Scheduled Tribe Caste certificates issued in Rajavommangi Mandal and they were asked to submit report to the Project Officer, ITDA and accordingly, the above team of Tahsildars have conducted enquiry with regard to the caste certificates issued from 01.04.2018 in the office of the Rajavommangi Mandal and submitted a report to the Project Officer, ITDA, who in turn submitted a report to the District Collector on 23.12.2018; according to the said report, certificates were classified into three categories; first category is where original files could not be traced in the Tahsildar’s office of Rajavommangi, which is a ground to suspect foul play in so far as 255 certificates and in two cases, certificates issued were cancelled b