NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 7383 of 2009 *Jiwan Livingstone (Dead) Through Lrs.

(a) Salina Livingstone w/o Late Jivan Livingston, aged about 60 years (b) Shishak Livingston s/o Late Jivan Livingston, aged about 32 years (c) Yashab Livingstone S/o Late Jivan Livingston, aged about 27 years All the legal heirs. R/o ward No. 16 lebar Colony, study point, Post &

Distt.-Rajnandgaon, (C.G.)

… Petitioners VERSUS

1. State of Chhattisgarh, Through Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Development Department, D.K.S. Bhawan, Raipur (C.G.)

2. The of Secretary, Government Chhattisgarh, General Administration Department, D.K.S. Bhawan, Raipur (C.G.)

3. Caste Certificate High Level Scrutiny Committee, through its Member Secretary-Cum-Scheduled Caste Development, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University Campus, Raipur (C.G.)

4. The Collector, District Rajnandgaon (C.G.)

… Respondents (Cause title taken from Case Information System)

For Petitioners : Mr. Shivbhan Singh Banjare, Advocate VED For Respondents/State : Ms. Supriya Upasane, Govt. Advocate PRAKASH DEWANGAN VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Date: 2026.03.10 17:00:21 +0530 Hon'ble Shri Justice R avindra Kumar Agrawal

Order on Board

04/02/2026

1. The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner (since deceased) through his legal representatives calling in question the legality and validity of the order dated 16.11.2009 passed by the High Level Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Chhattisgarh, whereby the petitioner has been declared as not belonging to the “Gond” Scheduled Tribe community and consequential direction for termination of his services has been issued.

2. The facts of the case as emerges from the pleadings of the petition are that, the petitioner, Jiwan Livingstone (since deceased and now represented through his legal representatives), claims to belong to “Gond” community, which is recognized as a Scheduled Tribe in the State of Chhattisgarh in terms of the Presidential Order issued under Article 342 of the Constitution of India. On the basis of a caste certificate dated 27.08.1984 issued by the competent authority, the petitioner was appointed on the post of Clerk/Assistant Grade-III in the respondent Department against a vacancy reserved for Scheduled Tribe category. It is pleaded that the petitioner thereafter earned promotions to the post of Assistant Grade-II in the year 1999 and subsequently to Assistant Grade-I and continued to discharge his duties to the satisfaction of the competent authorities.

******* The controversy arose when a complaint was allegedly made questioning the validity of the petitioner’s caste certificate. Pursuant thereto, the matter was referred to the High Level Caste Scrutiny Committee, Chhattisgarh for verification. A vigilance inquiry was conducted and a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner. According to the petitioner, the inquiry was conducted behind his back; the vigilance report and relevant materials were not supplied to him in time; he was not afforded adequate opportunity to inspect documents, produce evidence, or cross-examine witnesses; and his detailed reply along with supporting documents was not duly considered. It is further his case that despite his appearance before the Committee and request for copies of the vigilance report and allied documents, the Committee proceeded to pass the impugned order dated 16.11.2009 declaring him as non-tribal and directing termination of his services.

******* In the return, the stand of the respondents/State is that a detailed vigilance inquiry was conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil v. Addl. Commissioner, Tribal Development, (1994) 6 SCC 241. It is contended that the petitioner was afforded repeated opportunities on several dates to produce documentary evidence, particularly records showing the residence and tribal status of his father as on the date of the President