The legal provisions under Article 341 and U. P. Act No. 4 of 1994 were crucial in determining the validity of the caste certificate and the inclusion of Kasera community in the list of Scheduled Castes.

U. K. Dhaon and Rakesh Sharma, JJ.—Heard Sri S. P. Shukla, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri U. K. Srivastava, learned counsel appearing on behalf of opposite party No. 5, Sri Sharad Kumar Srivastava, Additional

Standing Counsel for the Central Government appearing on behalf of opposite party No. 1 and Sri Anurag Srivastava, learned counsel appearing on behalf of opposite party No. 6.

2. The petitioner has approached this Court against the order dated 31.3.1999, whereby the caste certificate dated 6.12.1996 issued in favour of the petitioner was cancelled. The petitioner has alleged that he is Kasera by birth, which is sub-caste of Shilpkar caste. The petitioner has alleged that on his representation a Caste Certificate dated 6.12.1996 was issued which provides that the petitioner belongs to Scheduled Castes category and without affording any opportunity the said certificate was cancelled by the order dated 31.3.1999. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that Kasera is a sub-caste of Shilpkar and the Scheduled Castes Certificate are being issued to the persons of Kasera of sub-caste in the State of U. P. He further submits that the certificate of caste was issued to the petitioner on 6.12.1996 and the Kasera community was added in Schedule-I at Serial No. 59 in the category of backward by the Notification dated 15.9.1997 and, therefore, on the basis of the Notification dated 15.9.1997 the caste certificate issued to the petitioner cannot be cancelled. He further submits that before passing of the impugned order, no opportunity was afforded to the petitioner and the impugned order is violative of principle of natural justice.

3. Sri Sharad Kumar Srivastava, learned standing counsel for the Union of India submits that at no point of time the Kasera community was included in the list of Scheduled Castes in relation to the State of U. P. as synonym to Shilpkar community. He further submits that the petitioner has filed the writ petition on misconceived facts and the writ petition deserves to be dismissed for the facts and reasons given in paragraphs 7 and 9 of the counter-affidavit.

4. The learned standing counsel appearing on behalf of the State of U. P. submits that the certificate was obtained by the petitioner by concealing material facts, which was rightly cancelled by the authorities by the impugned order. He further submits that Annexure-5 filed by the petitioner is a forged document and the correct Notification dated 22.5.1957 is Annexure-CA-3 to the writ petition and the petitioner does not belong to Scheduled Castes category.

5. Sri U. K. Srivastava, learned counsel for opposite party No. 5 submits that there is no illegality in the impugned order and the opposite party No. 5 belongs to the Scheduled Castes category and he has all rights to challenge the caste certificate, which was issued in favour of the petitioner. He further submits that the caste Kasera do not belong to the Scheduled Castes but it belongs to Other Backward Castes category.

6. We have considered the arguments of the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record.

7. A caste certificate was issued to the petitioner on 6.12.1996 thereafter a complaint was made by opposite party No. 5 and after making the necessary enquiry the Tehsildar, Bahraich by the order dated 31.3.1999 cancelled the caste certificate of Scheduled Castes category issued to the petitioner. The documents, which have been filed on behalf of the State of U. P. reveals that the petitioner does not belong to the Scheduled Caste community.

8. In paragraphs 7 and 9 of the counter-affidavit filed by the Union of India is as under :

(7) “That in reply to the contents of paras 8 to 10 of the writ petition, it may be pointed out that the list of Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh is contained in Part XVIII of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, as amended up to date. The community “Shilpkar” has been specified as Scheduled Caste