The Madras High Court has recently observed that the communal reservation policy is a matter of pride for the country and its exploitation or misuse cannot be justified.
The bench of Justices VM Velumani and R Hemalatha observed so while dismissing a writ petition filed by a retired government employee challenging an order passed by a state-level scrutiny committee, which had cancelled the Scheduled Tribe community certificate issued to him.
The petitioner, R Balasundaram, had been issued an ST community certificate by a Tahsildar in 1980. In 1982, he joined as a Khalasi at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding in Coimbatore on the basis of the said certificate. He was also promoted twice in 1999 and 2020.
However, in 2014, his employer began doubting his credentials. Subsequently, proceedings were initiated against him in 2017 by a state-level scrutiny committee, which referred the matter to the vigilance cell in 2018.
The vigilance cell in May 2018 had submitted a report stating that the petitioner does not belong to the Scheduled Tribe, and thus, the community certificate issued to him was bogus.
Despite the vigilance cell’s report and the pending inquiry before the state-level scrutiny committee, the petitioner got promoted in September 2020.
Thereafter, the petitioner attained the age of superannuation on November 11, 2021, however, he was paid only a provisional pension. His terminal benefits were also not released.
Subsequently, the community certificate of the petitioner was cancelled and in January 2022 his provisional pension was also stopped.
The petitioner moved the high court assailing the order of the state-level scrutiny committee.
The petitioner argued that, as per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, verification of ST community certificates is permitted only for the certificates issued after 1995, therefore, cancellation of his certificate after four decades had no legal sanctity.
The court rejected the argument and opined that the present matter was one of the many instances of the alleged bogus community certificate based on which the employment in government sector was obtained. “This court is flooded with such petitions and counter claims,” the court stated.
It also took note of the fact though the original community certificate issued to the petitioner was in 1980, it was until 2014, his employer presumably did not have any doubt or problem with the community certificate submitted by him.
However, the court underscored that the state-level scrutiny committee had not only relied on the Vigilance Officer’s Report alone, but also on the anthropological data.
The court highlighted that the vigilance report revealed that the brother and the daughter of the petitioner belong to a different community i.e. Reddy community (Ganjam) while the petitioner alone belonged to the Konda Reddy community.
“Such discrepancies are glaring and go against the claim of the petitioner,” the court held.
Therefore, finding no reason to sit in the judgment of the Vigilance Committee and the state-level scrutiny committee, the court dismissed the present writ petition.
The court stated, “It is true that there were no scientific methods to determine the caste or community of any citizen of India till a few decades back. But now with the system in place covering all the aspects and facts to go into the genuineness of anyone’s claim of belonging to SC/ST, nothing much can be alleged against committees which are intended to weed out unscrupulous elements who misuse the provisions of the Constitution.”
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