(Petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for issuance of a writ of certiorari.)

M. Karpagavinayagam, J.

Whether the suit in Civil Court for declaration that a person belongs to a particular community and for mandatory injunction, directing the authorities to issue community certificate in pursuance of the said declaration and it is binding on the said authorities, is maintainable or not?

The above is the question, posed before this Full Bench.

2. The facts leading to the reference of the point in issue to this Full Bench for determination, in short, are as follows:

"(i) Writ petitioners, claiming themselves to be belonging to Kattunaicken community, which is a Scheduled Tribe, on the basis of the community certificates obtained from the Tahsildar, applied for jobs in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Trichy, and got the same. A few years later, the management, after receipt of some information, decided to verify the genuineness of the certificates and sent the said community certificates for verification to the District Collector.

(ii) The District Collector verified the said community certificates through a discreet enquiry and sent a report to the