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IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
AMRITA SINHA
Priyanka Shaw – Appellant
Versus
State of West Bengal – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
Amrita Sinha, J.
1. The order passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer (Sadar), Hooghly cancelling the caste certificate of the petitioners and the order passed by the appellate authority being the Additional District Magistrate (LR), Hooghly affirming the cancellation, both are under challenge in the instant writ petition.
2. The petitioners are full blooded sisters. They claim Scheduled Tribe reservation with the sub-caste Gond. The petitioners, in support of reservation, rely upon the recording of the caste GOUD
(typed in Bengali language) in the deed of sale executed on 1st December, 1947 where her paternal grandfather was one of the parties.
3. It has been contended that the pre-independence document relied upon by the petitioners carries high evidentiary value and the same ought not to be ignored/overlooked by the authority and relying on the same, the reservation benefit ought to be granted in favour of the petitioners.
4. It has been submitted that the predecessors in interest of the petitioners were permanent residents of the said place for more than eighty years and her family members practise the religion and the customs of the said sub-caste.
5. The petitioners rely upo
The Sub-Divisional Officer lacks jurisdiction to cancel caste certificates; only the High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee can do so after following due process.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the cancellation of a Caste Certificate must be done in accordance with the provisions of the Odisha Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Ba....
Cancellation of a caste certificate should be based on a detailed enquiry and the claimant should be granted necessary opportunity to prove their claim.
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