ORDER :

1. This writ petition is filed to declare the proceedings of the Collector and District Magistrate, Nellore District dated 03.11.2015 and the Notification dated 03.11.2015, cancelling the caste certificate of the petitioner, as illegal and arbitrary and in violation of principles of natural justice and contrary to Rule 9(7) of the A.P. (SC/ST & BC) Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules, 1997 read with Act 16 of 1993.

2. Case of the petitioner is that:

(i) She belongs to ‘Agamudi Mudaliar’ (Thuluva Vellalas) community and there has been a representation to include ‘Agamudi Mudaliar’ (Thuluva Vellalas) caste as one of the backward class in the State of Andhra Pradesh, pursuant to which, the A.P. Commission for Backward Class conducted an enquiry and came to a conclusion that ‘Aghamudian, Aghamudiar, Agamudivellalar and Agamudi mudaliar (including Thuluva Vellalas)’ are socially and educationally backward and included in the list of backward classes under Group-D at S. No. 39 in so far as those who are living in Chittoor, Nellore, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

(ii) Pursuant to the said recommendation, Government of Andhra Pradesh issued G.O.Ms. No. 20, Backward Classes Welfare (C2) Department dated 04.07.2008, including the caste of ‘Agamudi Mudaliar’ (Thuluva Vellalas) in the list of BC under Group-D for the purpose of Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution of India; prior to inclusion of the above caste in BC-D, petitioner and others were considered under open category; pursuant to the said G.O. petitioner made an application to the Tahsildar, Naidupet Mandal for issuance of BC-D certificate and after verification, he issued BCD certificate on 02.09.2008 in favour of the petitioner; while so, pursuant to the notification dated 07.12.2008, petitioner applied to the post of Telugu Pandit Grade-II in SPSR Nellore District and she was selected under BC-D quota and joined the service on 22.10.2009.

(iii) One S. Veeraswamy, alleged to have made a complaint, before the Collector on 10.10.2011 alleging that the petitioner produced a false certificate, due to which his wife was not selected for the said post; pursuant to the said complaint, the Sub Collector, directed the Tahsildar to cause an enquiry with regard to the caste certificate of the petitioner and the Tahsildar enquired into the matter and issued proceedings dated 05.12.2011, stating that the certificate of the petitioner issued by the then Tahsildar is genuine; thereafter, the Collector issued proceedings dated 20.12.2013 directing the Revenue Divisional Officer to make an enquiry; the Revenue Divisional Officer after conducting enquiry issued proceedings dated 27.12.2013 stating that the claim of the petitioner is genuine; wife of the said Veeraswamy, who is the 6th respondent herein filed W.P. No. 22891 of 2014 alleging that she made a complaint before the District Collector on 27.05.2011 and that the same was not looked into, pursuant to which, the Revenue Divisional Officer again directed the petitioner to attend the enquiry on 24.01.2015 and the Revenue Divisional Officer submitted a report on 05.02.2015 stating that Mudaliar is not listed in backward classes and that the petitioner do not belong to ‘Agamudi Mudaliar’ (Thuluva Vellalas) and hence, petitioner’s case was placed before the District Level Scrutiny Committee; the District Level Scrutiny Committee issued notice in Form-VI to the petitioner on 10.03.2015 requiring her to attend for enquiry on 24.03.2015; except recording the statement of the petitioner, no further proceedings were held in her presence; the District Collector, Nellore issued proceedings dated 03.11.2015 under Section 5(1) of the A.P. (SC/ST & BCs) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act (for short ‘Act 16 of 1993’) read with Rule 9(7) of AP (SC/ST & BC) Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules, 1997 (for short ‘Rules 1997’) observing that the Distri