C A V Order

1. The petitioner assails the legality and validity of the impugned order dated 7.12.2019 (Annexure P/1) passed by the High Power Certification Scrutiny Committee, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. By way of the impugned order, the Committee has rejected the Caste Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner by the District Level Certificates Verification Committee regarding the ‘Gond’ (Scheduled Tribe) Community, as enlisted at Sl. No. 16 of the Presidential List for the State of Chhattisgarh. The High Power Certification Scrutiny Committee has erred in re-verifying the status of the petitioner without appreciating the fact that the District Level Certificates Verification Committee had already duly authenticated the caste of the petitioner and as a result, the Caste Certificate is free from any illegality or anomaly. A Caste Certificate issued by the District Level Certificates Verification Committee carries a presumption of validity and should not be subjected to re-verification. Since the District Level Certificates Verification Committee duly verified the caste of the petitioner and issued the Caste Certificate after following due process of law, the High Power Certification Scrutiny Committee cannot discard or reject the said Certificate in a casual or illegal manner.

2. The petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs in the petition :

1) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue a writ/writs, order/orders, direction/directions quashing the impugned order dated 07.12.2019 (Annex.P/1) Issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee and the respondents may kindly be directed not to pass any order which is disadvantageous to the services of the petitioner.

2] That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue a writ/writs, order/orders, direction/directions and the respondents may kindly be directed not to take any steps in pursuance of the order dated 07.12.2019 and they may further be directed not to take any coercive steps against the petitioner.

3] That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to grant any other relief(s), which is deemed fit and proper in the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case.

3. The aforementioned challenge has been made on the following factual backdrop :

4. The petitioner holds the substantive post of Superintendent, presently posted in the office of the Superintendent of Land Records, Surguja Division, Ambikapur. The petitioner was initially appointed on the post of Patwari vide order dated 12.7.1989 and was subsequently promoted to the post of Revenue Inspector vide order dated 10.5.2014. The petitioner is a member of a Scheduled Tribe, belonging to the ‘Gond Community’. The petitioner’s forefathers, including his father and grandfather, have historically availed the benefits of Scheduled Tribe status. Earlier, a Caste certificate was issued in favour of the petitioner on 20.9.1984 after proper enquiry. It is contended that the petitioner was not initially appointed against a reserved vacancy, however, his status was subsequently verified by the competent authority. Thereafter, a Verification Certificate was issued by the District Level Certificates Verification Committee on 17.7.2014, which attained finality after a full-fledged enquiry. The State Government framed the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Rules, 2013 (henceforth “the Rules, 2013”) under Section 19 of the Rules, 2013. Section 2(q) defines “Verification Committee”, which was constituted under Section 14 of the Rules, 2013. The District Level Certificate Verification Committee has conducted the enquiry under Rule 17 of the Rules, 2013 read with Section 6 of the the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes & Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Act, 2013 and after due verification had issued the Verification Certificate in form 4(D)(1) of the Rules, 2013. However, all of a sudden, on a re