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2024 Supreme(Telangana) 215
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
Surepalli Nanda, J.
Smt Jadhav Surekha - Petitioner
Versus
Govt. of A.P. & others - Respondents
Writ Petition No.7158 OF 2013
Decided On : 03-06-2024
For the Petitioner: Mr Jogaram Tejavath
For the Respondent: G.P. for Social Welfare, G.P. for Revenue
IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that arbitrary residency requirements for Scheduled Tribe status violate constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination.
Headnote:
Legal Framework - Agency Area Certificate - Article 14, 15, 16, 21, 335 of the Constitution of India - The court discussed the constitutional provisions regarding equality and non-discrimination, emphasizing that the conditions for local scheduled tribe status were arbitrary and discriminatory, influencing the decision to reconsider the cancellation of the petitioner’s certificate.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner challenged the cancellation of her agency area certificate, claiming she belonged to a Scheduled Tribe and had been a resident of the area since before 1950. The cancellation was based on findings of the District Level Scrutiny Committee that her certificate was obtained through fabricated documents.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the conditions for local scheduled tribe status were unreasonable and discriminatory, as established by the Supreme Court, and directed the authorities to reconsider the cancellation of the petitioner’s certificate.
Issues: Whether the cancellation of the agency area certificate was justified and whether the conditions for local scheduled tribe status were discriminatory.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the conditions imposed for local scheduled tribe status were arbitrary and violated constitutional provisions, necessitating a reconsideration of the cancellation of the petitioner’s certificate.
Result: The court directed the reconsideration of the cancellation of the agency area certificate within four weeks.
ORDER :
Surepalli Nanda, J.
Heard Sri Jogram Tejavath, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner, learned Government Pleader for Social Welfare appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 3 and learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing on behalf of respondent No.4.
2. The petitioner approached the Court seeking prayer as under:
“to issue an opportunity writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of respondent authority cancelling the agency area certificate of the petitioner herein vide Proc. No. C3/5044/2010-4 dated 09.04.2012 is illegal arbitrary unconstitutional discriminatory and in violation of Article 14, 16, 21 and 335 of the Constitution of India and set aside the above proceedings vide Proc. No. C3/5044/20104 dated 09.04.2012 of the Respondent No.2 and consequently direct the respondents to appoint the petitioner herein to the post of Teacher as per the selection list of DSC 2008 for the above post……”
PERUSED THE RECORD :
3. Counter affidavit filed by the Respondent No.2, and in particular Para Nos.4 and 7 read as under :
“4. Further, the District Level Scrutiny Committee along with the two study teams who were deputed from TCR & IT, Hyderabad to Adilabad District for verification of Local Scheduled Tribe status claim of the petitioner have conducted a detailed enquiry and reported that "The Candidate obtained Local Scheduled Tribe Certificate by producing fabricated documents. As per Rule 6 of the Andhra Pradesh (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules 1997, the burden of proof lies with candidate. The candidate failed to substantiate her or her parent's continuous residence in Scheduled areas since 26.01.1950".
In view of the above the then District Collector, Adilabad has cancelled the Local Scheduled Tribe Area certificate No. D/14/2009, Dt: 12.01.2009 issued by the Tahsildar, Sirpur-U to the petitioner after giving an opportunity to the petitioner.
7. In reply to para 6 of the petitioner's affidavit, it is submitted that, at present, detalled guidelines are issued for issuance of Agency area Local scheduled Tribe Certificates to the Local scheduled Tribes vide G.O.Ms.No.24, TW (LTR.I) Dept., Dt: 12.06.2018 and as per para (14), J, K in G.O.MsNo.24, TW (LTR.I) Dept., Dt: 12.06.2018-
j) The Committee shall also inquire into false claims and make recommendations to the District Collector for cancellation as in the case of District Level Scrutiny Committee under Act No.16/1993.
k) The parties aggrieved on the orders passed by the District Collector can file an appeal before the Government, instead of this she has again Fraudulently obtained LST certificates from the Tahsildars of Sirpur(U) and Lingapur as briefed in para No. 5 above by suppressing the facts of cancellation of her LST certificate No. D/14/2009, Dt: 12.01.2009 by the District Collector, Adilabad vide Proc. No. C3/5044/2010-4, Dated: 09.04.2012 which is illegal, on the part of the petitioner.
4. The case of the Petitioner in brief as per the averments made in the affidavit filed by the Petitioner in support of the present writ petition is as under :
i) The petitioner belongs to Schedule Tribe and hails from Agency area since a very long time and Petitioner’s forefathers also hail from the same area for the past 75 years. The pahani pattas, land documents, voter list reveals that the Petitioners are the continuing residents of the Agency area as per G.O.Ms.No.3 issued by the Government of A.P. The Petitioner applied for DSC 2008 and the Petitioner was provisionally selected for the post of the SGT Teachers in the Agency area as per the DSC 2008. Some failed candidates complained against the selected candidates in DSC 2008 without verifying the genuineness of the Agency Area Certificate. The scrutiny committee headed by the District Collector and Chairman DSC 2008 without applying its mind and without proper
