When can a child inherit the caste of an SC/ST mother? Delhi HC answers

The Delhi High Court held that a child can inherit the caste of a mother who belongs to a notified community or tribe if it is established that the child was brought up by the mother and that he/she suffered all the disadvantages faced by that community..The order was passed by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Vibhu Bakru in a petition assailing the rejection of the petitioner’s request for caste certificates for her two children..The petitioner was a senior officer of the Indian Air Force and belonged to the Bania community, which she asserted was a Scheduled Caste in the State of Assam. In 1999, the petitioner married a person belonging to a forward caste. Subsequently, due to matrimonial disputes, the marriage was dissolved in the year 2009..The petitioner stated that her children, who were then aged 4 and 1, had been living with her since then. She also asserted that the children had never lived in the company of their father, who has since remarried..Although the children adopted the surname of their father, the petitioner filed applications for obtaining caste certificates for both of her children certifying that they belonged to a Scheduled Caste..It was the petitioner’s case that notwithstanding the father’s caste, the children could not be said to be from a forward community as they grew up in the community to which the petitioner belongs..After several rounds of litigation, the applications were subsequently rejected by the Delhi Government authorities on the ground that there was no material to substantiate the claim that the petitioner’s sons had grown up in the community of their maternal side..Aggrieved by the rejection, the petitioner approached the High Court..Calling the contentions advanced by the petitioner as unpersuasive, the Court stated that there was no dispute that the surname adopted by a person would not by itself be determinative of his caste if it is established that he had grown up in the community of one of their parents who belonged to a backward class..However, in order to determine if an applicant, whose one parent is from a forward caste, “belonged to a notified caste”, it was required that an assessment be undertaken, taking into account the relevant facts of the case, the Court added..Quoting from the Supreme Court’s decision in Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika v. State of Gujarat and Others, the Court recorded that in order to avail a caste certificate certifying that an applicant belonged to a notified community, an applicant has to lead evidence to show that he/she was brought up by the parent who belonged to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and that he suffered the deprivations, indignities, humilities and handicaps like any other member of that community..After perusing the facts of the present case, the Court concluded that there was no material on record to establish that the two sons of the petitioner suffered any of disadvantages of persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe..“Both the children of the petitioner have completed substantial portion of their education in New Delhi in and there is no material that the environment in the school had placed them in any disadvantageous position as compared to students belonging to a forward class….…The petitioner herself is a senior officer of the Indian Air Force. It is well accepted that persons from the Indian Armed Forces live in a secluded and protected environment (cantonment area). There is little scope for any caste discrimination in such an environment….…It cannot be ignored that both the children of the petitioner bear the surname of their father and thus, holding out a clear representation as belonging to a forward caste. This also puts to rest any doubt that one may have regarding the two children suffering any disadvantage of belonging to a backward class.”.The Court further clarified that the onus of establishing that the children of the petitioner had suffered any of the disadvantages of belonging to a Scheduled Caste rested with the petitioner..Accordingly, the petition was dismissed..The petitioner was represented by Advocate Pranjal Kishore..The Delhi Government was represented by Standing Counsel Ramesh Singh with Additional Standing Counsel Shadan Farasat and Advocates Rudrakshi Deo and Chirayu Jain..[Read Order]