D. MURUGESAN, J.

1. Considering the important issue which crops up very frequently before this Court as to the power of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission to satisfy itself whether the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe certificates produced by the candidates appearing for selection against posts reserved for them are true and genuine or not, a Division Bench consisting of Honourable Mrs.Justice Prabha Sridevan and Honourable Mr.Justice B.Rajendran referred the matter for a decision by a Full Bench by order dated 17.02.2010. By that order, the Division Bench referred the question as to what extent the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission has the power to examine the community certificates regarding their genuineness.

2. The above reference arose under the following circumstances:-

(a) The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'TNPSC'), the appellant herein, notified calling for applications to conduct examinations for selection of candidates for Group-II Services in the year 2008. On the strength of 'Hindu Konda Reddi Scheduled Tribe Community Certificate' issued by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Cheranmahadevi, dated 03.10.2008, the first