"Fraud committed to avail benefits available to Scheduled Caste category:" Bombay High Court cancels caste certificate of MP Navneet Kaur Rana

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday cancelled and confiscated the caste certificate issued to Member of Parliament (MP) Navneet Kaur Rana of Amravati Lok Sabha constituency on the ground that it was obtained by "systemic fraud" (Anandra Vithoba Adsul v. State of Maharashtra & Ors and connected matters)..A Bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and VG Bisht held that Rana obtained the caste certificate by fabricating records to enable her to contest the parliamentary elections through reserved category candidature.Rana's caste certificate attested her as "Mochi" which is a Scheduled Caste community."A wrong caste validity certificate granted in favour of the party who does not belong to that caste may deprive a genuine and deserving person belonging to such reserve category of the caste and of the benefits and all the benefits prescribed in the Constitution of India," the Court opined. The Court also directed Rana to deposit costs to the tune of Rs. 2 lakh to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority within two weeks from today.The Court came to the conclusion that "the caste claim made by the respondent no.3 (Rana) for obtaining a schedule caste certificate was fraudulent and was made with intention to obtain various benefits available to a candidate from such scheduled caste category knowingly well that she does not belong to that caste".The judgment was rendered on a petition filed by Shiv Sena leader and former MP, Anandra Vithoba Adsul who had challenged the certificate validating Rana's caste as "Mochi".Rana was elected as MP from Amravati constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate with the support of Indian Nationalist Congress and National Congress Party. The caste certificate was issued by the Deputy Collector Mumbai and the same was validated by the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Mumbai Suburban..Adsul contended that Rana used forged and fabricated documents to declare herself as reserved category candidate belonging to a Scheduled Caste community. .The Court noted that all the documents relied upon by Rana in support of her caste claim were held inadmissible except two documents: Bonafide certificate issued by the Principal, Gurunanak Khalsa College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai in 2014 to show that the great-grandfather had taken admission in the college in 1946;Alleged rent agreement for the year 1932 in the name of the Budhia Roda i.e. the great grand-father of the respondent no.3.From the nature of the questions put by the Scrutiny Committee, the Court deduced that even they had doubt or suspicion on the entry made in the register. But despite that, there was no further enquiry to verify the correctness of the entry."The Committee could not have accepted a doubtful and suspicious document produced by Rana as admissible on the ground that no objection was raised in respect of that document by the petitioners," the Court opined.The Court further said that declaring the alleged bonafide certificate and the general register entry showing the great-grandfather's name as an admissible evidence was perverse. "Mentioning of a caste in any private document such as alleged rent agreement cannot be conclusive to prove the caste of any applicant." the Court opined. "Both these documents have been accepted merely on an erroneous assumption that none of the petitioners had objected to the said documents orally or in writing." the Court said.Since the certificate was obtained fraudulently by validating the same through fabricated and false documents, the Court held that the caste certificate stood cancelled and confiscated..The Court also admonished the Scrutiny Committee for their "abysmal functioning".Considering the question on whether the Scrutiny Committee applied its mind to relevant facts which led the committee to ultimately record the finding, the Court observed that "we are of the firm view that Scrutiny Committee did its job rather sloppily and shirked the obligations imposed on it by the provisions of the Act".The Court also made strong remarks against the Committee for not dealing with the objections raised by the vigilance cell that the original documents were not produced and the handwriting in the entries were different.Aghast by the eerie silence on the part of the Scrutiny Committee, the Court expressed its disapproval at the manner in which it handled the representative who came for enquiry."This approach needs to be frowned upon," the order stated.The complainants in this case made serious allegations about the forgery and fabrication of various documents which was supported by the Vigilance Cell report."The Scrutiny Committee could not have adopted casual approach as adopted in this case," the Court said.Before parting with the order, the Court reminded the committee about its solemn duty to be "more cautious and careful and considerate" while attending circumstances for validating caste certificates.They expressed hoped that the committee will, in future, take all caution and guarded approach before validating caste certificates..[Read Judgment]