IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 10.12.2025

CORAM :

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S. RAMESH

and

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R.SAKTHIVEL

W.P.No.1100 of 2022

and W.M.P.Nos.1161 and 1163 of 2022

G.S.Nedunchezhian

S/o.(Late) P.Gowrisundaram ... Appellant

Vs.

1.The Tamilnadu State Level Scrutiny Committee – III

Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department

Namakkal Kavingar Maligai

Secretariat

Chennai 600 009

rep. by its Chairman

2.The Workshop Personnel Officer

Central Workshop

Ponmalai

Southern Railway

Tiruchirappalli 620 004 ... Respondents Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, for the issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records relating to the order passed by the Tamil Nadu State Level Scrutiny Committee – III in proceedings No.996/CV-4(1)/2014-10 dated

27.10.2021 on the file of the 1^st respondent and quash the same and direct the 2^nd respondent to extend all terminal benefits to the petitioner.

For Petitioner : Mr.S.Doraiswamy For Respondents : Mr.UM.Ravichandran Special Government Pleader - R1 Mr.P.T.Ram Kumar Standing Counsel - R2 ORDER (Order of the Court was made by M.S.RAMESH, J.

The present Writ Petition has been filed for the issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records relating to the order passed by the Tamil Nadu State Level Scrutiny Committee – III in proceedings No.996/CV-4(1)/2014-10 dated 27.10.2021 on the file of the 1^st respondent and quash the same and direct the 2^nd respondent to extend all terminal benefits to the petitioner.

2.The petitioner herein was issued with a Community Certificate, certifying that he belongs to Kondareddis (ST) community, which is classified as Scheduled Tribe Community. When the said certificate came up for scrutiny before the State Level Scrutiny Committee, it was concluded that the Kondareddis (Scheduled Tribe) Community Certificate held by the petitioner herein is not correct. Consequently, the State Level Scrutiny Committee cancelled the said Community Certificate through its order dated 27.10.2021. Challenging the said order, the present Writ Petition has been filed.

3.The main contention raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the enquiry conducted by the State Level Scrutiny Committee on 12.10.2021, which was on the basis of the Anthropologist’s report, is not proper, since, the Anthropologists themselves had conducted the enquiry over phone and arrived at a conclusion that the community certificate is not genuine. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Kumari Madhuri Patil and another vs. Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others [AIR 1995 Supreme Court 94(1)], has set forth the methodology for scrutinizing the community certificates of persons claiming to belong to Scheduled Tribes and had streamlined the procedure in paragraph No.12 of the judgment as per the said guidelines. The concerned Directorate is obligated to constitute a vigilance cell and the Inspector is mandated to go to the local place of residence and original place from which the candidate hails and should personally verify and collect all the facts of the social status claimed by the concerned candidate. The relevant portion of the order reads as follow:

“12.

….

5.Each Directorate should constitute a vigilance cell consisting of Senior Deputy Superintendent of Police in overall charge and such number of Police Inspectors to investigate into the social status claims. The Inspector would go to the local place of residence and original place from which the candidate hails and usually resides or in case of migration to the town or city, the place from which he originally hailed from. The vigilance officer should personally verify and collect all the facts of the social status claimed by the candidate or the parent or guardian, as the case may be. He also should examine the school records, birth registration, if any. He should also examine the parent guardian or the candidate in relation to their caste etc.