BREAKING : Supreme Court Stays High Court Judgment Which Cancelled MP Navneet Kaur Rana's Caste Certificate

In a relief to MP Navneet Kaur Rana, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Bombay High Court judgment which had set aside her caste certificate.

Since she had won from a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the High Court judgment could have affected her election to the Parliament. She had contested election by claiming to be a member of 'Mochi' scheduled caste.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari stayed the operation of the High Court judgment while issuing notice on the special leave petition filed by her against the High Court judgment.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Amravati MP, submitted that the the terms "Mochi" and "chamaar" are synonymous.

He added that the scrutiny committee had decided her caste status based on original records produced before it. He said that there is a presumption that documents over 30 years old are correct. The genuineness of the documents were not contested. However, the High Court reversed the scrutiny committee's decision in a writ petition, Mr.Rohatgi submitted.

Mr.Rohatgi argued that the High Court decision was erroneous as it entered into factual determination in a writ petition, ignoring several documents.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners who approached the High Court against Rana's caste certificate, submitted that the vigilance committee had found that many documents were fabricated.

The bench asked Mr.Sibal to file a counter-affidavit in the matter.

When the bench was about to pass a stay order, Mr.Sibal strongly protested. He said that the stay cannot be granted without hearing him.

At that point, the bench, refraining from completing the dictation of the order, proceeded to hear the submission of Mr.Sibal, who referred to the findings of the vigilance cell relating to fabrication of documents.

The bench asked if the High Court could have made such factual findings under Article 226 of the Constitution. If at all the High Court was dissatisfied with the findings of the scrutiny committee, it ought to have remitted the matter to it for fresh consideration, the bench suggested.

Mr.Sibal replied that the only remedy available against the scrutiny committee was a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Ultimately, the bench proceeded to stay the High Court judgment.

What did the High Court say?

Observing that Amravati MP, Navneet Kaur-Rana has committed 'systematic fraud' the Bombay High Court cancelled her caste certificate and the Caste Scrutiny Committee's (CSC) 2017 order validating her "false" claim of belonging to the 'Mochi' Schedule Caste.

The bench comprising Justices R D Dhanuka and V G Bisht directed Rana to pay Rs 2 lakh as costs to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority and gave her six weeks to surrender the certificate.

" In our view, it was systematic fraud committed by the respondent no.3 (Rana) with the assistance of her father to obtain the caste certificate Mochi by fabricating the records to enable her to contest the election for member of Parliament in the Constituency reserved for reserved category candidate and other benefits available to such caste under Constitution of India.," the bench said in its order.

Rana, an independent candidate from Maharashtra's Amravati constituency, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 by defeating then sitting Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul with backing from the NCP. Her husband, Ravi Rana, is an MLA. However, Rana was said to be drifting towards the BJP since the 2019 election.