Inquiry into caste certificate can be reopened only when vitiated by fraud or issued without proper inquiry: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that reopening of inquiry into caste certificates can be done only when there is fraud or when they were issued without proper inquiry (J Chitra vs District Collector & SDVC Tamil Nadu)..The Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose held that the “purpose of verification of caste certificates by scrutiny committees is to avoid false and bogus claims.”.“Repeated inquiries for verification of caste certificates would be detrimental to the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Reopening of inquiry into caste certificates can be only in case they are vitiated by fraud or when they were issued without proper inquiry,” the judgment said..The judgment was rendered on an appeal by a Scheduled Caste government officer, J Chitra (appellant) against whom there was an inquiry with respect to her caste certificate based on a complaint by Dr. Ambedkar Service Association. District Level Vigilance Committee had initially upheld the community certificate in favour of the appellant which showed her to be from a Scheduled Caste community. The decision of the District Level Vigilance Committee in the year 1999 was not challenged in any forum..Later another complaint was filed and on the basis of that she was again subjected to inquiry. The matter was first heard by the State Level Scrutiny Committee which remanded the matter to District Vigilance Committee. The District Vigilance Committee then conducted a hearing before cancelling the certificate.She appealed against such a rejection before Madras High Court which rejected her appeal. This led to the present plea before the Supreme Court..The top court noted that recognition of the community certificate issued in favour of the appellant by the District Vigilance Committee had become final and that the State Level Scrutiny Committee did not have jurisdiction to reopen the matter and remand the matter for fresh consideration by the District Level Vigilance Committee.In this regard, the Court placed reliance on the Government Order dated September 12, 2007. “The guidelines issued by G.O.108 dated 12.09.2007 do not permit the State Level Scrutiny Committee to reopen cases which have become final,” stated the Supreme Court.The Court, therefore, held that in view of the conclusion that the State Level Scrutiny Committee did not have the power to reopen the matter relating to the caste certificate that was approved by the District Vigilance Committee in the year 1999 without any appeal filed against that order, it is not necessary for to deal with the submissions relating to the correctness of the findings recorded by the District Vigilance Committee in 2008.It thus, allowed the appeal and set aside the 2008 order of District Vigilance Committee..[Read Judgment]