'A Person Who Has Migrated To Another State Shall Get Benefit Of Reservation Only In State Of Origin': Jharkhand High Court

Justice Rajesh Shankar held, “This Court is of the view that on mere ground that caste certificate of the petitioner for S.T category has been issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Godda, she cannot claim benefit of reservation in the State of Jharkhand in view of the settled position of law that a person, who has migrated to the other State, shall get benefit of reservation only in the State of origin.”

The above ruling came in a writ petition filed for declaring the petitioner to have passed in the Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination, 2016 for appointment on the post of Teacher (Hindi) as after being declared successful in the 'Main' examination, she was called for certificate verification, however, her candidature in the Scheduled Tribe (S.T) category was rejected on the ground that she had submitted the caste certificate of S.T on the basis of her husband.

Further prayer was made for quashing the remarks mentioned against the name of the petitioner in notice No. 3519 dated 28.05.2019 wherein it has been mentioned that she failed to submit the caste certificate and hence her candidature would be restricted up to the vacancy of unreserved category.

The petitioner also prayed for directing the respondent Nos. 4 to 6 to send her name to respondent No.2 for counselling being successful candidate in the S.T category

The petitioner's counsel argued that the petitioner, originally from Bihar and belonging to the 'Lohara' caste, obtained a Scheduled Tribe (S.T) caste certificate from Jharkhand after marriage. The JSSC issued a show cause notice, questioning the basis of her caste certificate. Despite submitting a fresh certificate based on her parents' details, a subsequent notice indicated a failure to submit a valid caste certificate, limiting her candidature to the unreserved category.

The Court placed reliance on the case of Kanchan Kumari & Anr. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors. [W.P.(S) No. 1943/2019], whereby it was held, “19. Thus, the issue is no more res integra that a person, who has migrated to the other State, shall get the benefit of reservation only in his/her parent State i.e., the State of origin and not in the migrant State, even though the caste of that person is being given the benefit of reservation in the migrant State.”

Placing reliance on the above case law, the Court observed, “In the present case also, the admitted fact is that the state of origin of the petitioner is the State of Bihar and she migrated to State of Jharkhand after her marriage. The petitioner obtained a caste certificate from the office of the SubDivisional Officer, Godda by giving the address of her husband as her place of residence.”

“Since the issue raised in the present writ petition has already been set at rest, this Court is of the view that the prayers made in the present writ petition deserve to be dismissed,” the Court concluded while dismissing the writ petition.

Counsel/s For the Petitioner: Mr. Abhishek Srivastava

Counsel/s For the State: Ms. Sweta Shukla, A.C to A.A.G-II

Counsel/s For the JSSC: Mr. Sanjay Piprawall

Case Title: Rina Kumari Rana @ Reena Kumari Rana vs The State of Jharkhand & Ors

LL Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Jha) 148

Case No.: W.P.(S) No. 3050 of 2019