The State Commission for Scheduled Tribes lacks the jurisdictional authority to independently verify or inquire into the genuineness of a caste certificate; its power is limited to receiving complaints and forwarding them to the appropriate High-Level Caste Scrutiny Committee as mandated by law.

Order on Board

1. The Writ Petition has been filed against the impugned notice dated 11.02.2021 (Annexure P/1) issued by the Chhattisgarh State Scheduled Tribes Aayog, Raipur C.G. by which, the petitioner was directed to appear before the said Aayog on 10.03.2021 at 02:00 pm along with necessary documents in respect of his caste.

2. The petitioner by way of this Writ Petition has prayed for the following reliefs:-

10.1) The Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records leading to issuance of the impugned notice Annexure P-1, for the kind perusal of this Hon'ble Court.

10.2) The Hon'ble Court may further kindly be pleased to quash the impugned notice (Annexure P-1) issued by the respondent.

10.3) Cost of the petition may also be granted to the petitioner.

10.4) Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper may also kindly be granted to the petitioner, in the interest of justice.

3. Brief facts of the case are the family of the petitioner is third generation in the State of Chhattisgarh. The grand-father of the petitioner namely, late Tej Singh was resident of Kotmikala, now, it is a part of District Gourela-Pendra-Marwahi. By profession, he was a Teacher and the father of the petitioner namely A.T. Singh is also a retired teacher from Bilaspur. During his service tenure, when the father of the petitioner was posted at Pendra, the petitioner was born on 08.03.1976 at Pendra. As per the record of the Mission English Medium School, Tahsil Pendra Road, District Bilaspur, the petitioner took admission in KG-1 on 22.07.1980 and at column No.5, his caste was mentioned as Gond (Scheduled Tribes). In the year 2002, after bifurcation of the State of Madhya Pradesh, residence certificate was issued by the competent authority in favour of the petitioner mentioning that he is resident of the State of Chhattisgarh from last 15 years and he has completed his education from Chhattisgarh. The petitioner has completed his entire education from 8th standard to Masters degree from the State of Chhattisgarh. It is relevant to mention here that in all the certificates, in the column of caste, caste of the petitioner is mentioned as Gond (Scheduled Tribes). The petitioner moved an application for temporary caste certificate before the learned Tahsildar and after verification, the learned Tahsildar issued temporary caste certificate in favour of the petitioner in the year 2005. The petitioner has completed his education and he became eligible for job in Government sector and because he belongs to Caste Gond (Scheduled Tribe), he moved an appropriate application as per law before the concerned Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Pendra Road, District Bilaspur for issuance of Caste Certificate in his favour. On the said application, the learned SDM, registered a case i.e. Case No.48B/121/2007-08 and after verification of the entire documents, which is the procedure of the SDM, finally, after satisfaction, the SDM on 29.10.2007 issued Caste Certificate under Rule 8(1) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Rules, 1976. In the year 2005, Zila Panchayat, Bilaspur issued an advertisement under the Chhattisgarh Panchayat Shiksha Karmi Bharti and Seva Ke Sharte Niyam, 1997, for the post of Shiksha Karmi Grade-II. After the advertisement, the petitioner also participated in the above selection process and finally, he was selected and appointment order was issued in his favour on 21.06.2005 and he was appointed as Shiksha Karmi Grade-II and posted at Unnat Kanya Madhyamik Shala, Jogisar, Gourela, and as