The court affirmed that a caste certificate can be cancelled if the claimant fails to prove permanent residency as required by applicable laws and policies.

JUDGMENT :

Sangeeta K. Vishen, J.

With the consent of the learned Advocates appearing for the respective parties, the matter is taken up for final disposal.

2. Issue Rule, returnable forthwith. Mr KM Antani, learned Assistant Government Pleader waives service of notice of Rule on behalf of respondent nos.1 and 2. Mr Simranjitsingh Virk, learned Advocate waives service of notice of Rule on behalf of respondent no.3.

3. Captioned writ petition is directed against the order dated 09.05.2024 passed by the respondent no.1 i.e. Member Secretary, Scrutiny Committee & Joint Director (hereinafter referred to as "the respondent no.1"), cancelling the caste certificate dated 08.09.2022 of the petitioner as well as the order/communication dated 20.05.2024 issued by the respondent no.2, i.e. Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate & Postgraduate Medical Education Courses (hereinafter referred to as “Admission Committee”), cancelling the admission of the petitioner with the respondent no.3 college.

4. The matter was heard and vide order dated 10.07.2024, the interim relief was refused. The Letters Patent Appeal no.693 of 2024 was dismissed vide order dated 18.07.2024. Being aggrieved, the petitioner has preferred the Special Leave to Appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and while disposing of the same, the following order has been passed:

“1. Since this petition is filed against an interlocutory order, we are not inclined to entertain the present petition.

2. However, we request the learned Single Judge to decide the writ petition filed by the petitioner expeditiously and preferably within a period of three months from today.

3. We further clarify that the learned Single Judge would not be influenced by the observations made by the learned Division Bench of the High Court in the impugned order.

4. The special leave petition is, accordingly, disposed of.

5. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.”

5. Mr S.P. Majmudar, learned advocate with Mr H.J. Karathiya, learned advocate for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner belongs to ‘Teli’ community. The grandfather was residing at Bhavnagar since many years, so also the parents of the petitioner. It is submitted that the petitioner has excelled in Std. X and XII. Besides, she has appeared in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (UG) – 2022 (hereinafter referred to as “NEET”) securing 507 marks out of 720 marks. Even provisional allotment letter dated 01.11.2022 was issued by the respondent no.2 and thereafter, the petitioner has cleared the first year M.B.B.S examination by securing 538 marks out of 900 marks.

5.1. It is submitted that the certificate of age and domicile issued by the Executive Magistrate & City Mamlatdar, certifies that the petitioner is residing in Bhavnagar city since last more than 10 years. Furthermore, the caste certificate has been issued by the District Deputy Director, certifying that the petitioner belongs to the ‘Teli’ community. It is submitted that documents, namely, School Leaving Certificate, other certificates of granduncle, aunt etc., were considered and after following the due process of law, the petitioner was issued the age and domicile certificate by the competent authority as well as caste certificate.

5.2. It is next submitted that during the verification process, the petitioner has produced transfer certificate indicating that the petitioner belongs to Hindu OBC. Even the School Leaving Certificate of the grandfather refers to the caste as Hindu Teli. Moreover, item no.9 of the School Leaving Certificate indicates that the grandfather left the school in the year 1964.Similarly, in the documents pertaining to granduncle, the caste mentioned is Hindu Teli. It is submitted that another set of documents produced were, the receipt issued by the jeweller; the papers of the treatment received by the grandfather of the hospital, somewhere in the month of August 1974 and discharge during the said period, as well as the receipt of the ta