The judgment establishes that repeated verifications of Community Certificates are improper, and the State Level Scrutiny Committee did not have jurisdiction for a second verification.

ORDER :

R. Subramanian, J.

Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking to issue a Writ of Certiorari to call for the records relating to the impugned proceedings issued by the third respondent in proceedings No.14024-CV-4(2)/2014-37dated 25.02.2022 and to quash the same.

Challenge in the Writ Petition is to the order of the State Level Scrutiny Committee-III dated 25.02.2022, concluding that the Community Certificate issued to the petitioner to the effect that he belongs to Hindu Konda Reddy, a Scheduled Tribe Community is not genuine.

2. The petitioner was favoured with the certificate that he belongs to Hindu Konda Reddy, a Scheduled Tribe Community in the year 1977 by the Deputy Tahsildar, Namakkal. He was initially appointed as a Junior Engineer in the Department of Public Works, Government of Puducherry, on 08.08.1986 after due selection. In the year 1990, he was recruited by the Union Public Service Commission as an Assistant Engineer and was appointed as such on 26.09.1990. Even while the petitioner was working as an Assistant Engineer, certain complaints were made regarding his communal status. Such complaints were referred to the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance and Anti Corruption, Puducherry. An enquiry was conducted on 31.01.1994, wherein the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance and Anti Corruption, went to the native place of the petitioner examined the witnesses including the Village Administrative Officer and reached a conclusion that the petitioner in fact belongs to Hindu Konda Reddy, a Community classified as Scheduled Tribe.

2.1. Again, upon certain complaints, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, sought for a clarification from the Government of Puducherry, regarding the communal status of the petitioner. On 17.11.1998, Government of Puducherry, informed the Union Home Department that the Community Certificate produced by the petitioner is genuine. There were further complaints to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and upon a query by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Government of Puducherry forwarded a Report confirming the petitioner’s communal status as Scheduled Tribe on 31.01.2001. The petitioner was thereafter promoted as an Executive Engineer under the vacancy for Scheduled Tribes in the year 2004.

2.2. The petitioner was denied promotion as a Superintending Engineer, in view of the cloud that was caused upon his communal status, due to certain representations that were made by certain vested interests. Therefore, the petitioner was forced to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal and upon the directions of the Central Administrative Tribunal, the petitioner was promoted as a Superintending Engineer in the year 2014, on par with his junior who was promoted earlier. The petitioner was made the Chief Engineer in the Public Works Department, Puducherry on 05.05.2021.

2.3. In the interregnum, during the year 2012, the Government of Puducherry had forwarded a complaint received from some third parties to the State Level Scrutiny Committee of Tamil Nadu with a request for verification of the Community Certificate of the petitioner. The State Level Scrutiny Committee on 23.01.2015 cancelled the petitioner’s Community Certificate without obtaining Report of the District Level Vigilance Committee and the Anthropologist, as required by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil and another v. Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others, reported in (1994) 6 SCC 241. The said order dated 23.01.2015 was made a subject matter of challenge in WP No.2301 of 2015. The order of the cancellation was stayed by this Court.

2.4. Pending the Writ Petition, the State Level Scrutiny Committee withdrew the order dated 23.01.2015 and recording such withdrawal, the Writ Petition was closed. Thereafter, the District Level Vigilance Committee and the Anthropologist conducted enquiries, as p