Suit For Direction To Rectify School Records Based On Caste Certificate Maintainable Before Civil Court: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has held that if the relief sought in the plaint is restricted to seeking a direction to rectify school records based on caste certificate issued by the Tahsildar, the plaintiff's remedy is only under common law before the competent civil Court.

A single judge bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum while allowing an appeal filed by Ms Alfa S and others, challenging the order of the first appellate court, dismissed the suits seeking relief of mandatory injunction by way of direction to defendants to amend caste in the school records, on the ground that the reliefs were barred under Section 9 of Civil Procedure Code.

Section 9 reads thus: Courts to try all civil suits unless barred. The Courts shall (subject to the provisions herein contained) have jurisdiction to try all suits of a civil nature accepting suits of which their cognizance is either expressly or impliedly barred.

[Explanation I].--A suit in which the right to property or to an office is contested is a suit of a civil nature, notwithstanding that such right may depend entirely on the decision of questions as to religious rites or ceremonies. [Explanation II].--For the purposes of this section, it is immaterial whether or not any fees are attached to the office referred to in Explanation I or whether or not such office is attached to a particular place.]

The appellants claimed that their father belongs to the Bhovi community which comes under the Scheduled Caste category. However, it was argued that while admitting plaintiffs to school, caste was wrongly shown as 'Gowda' instead of 'Bhovi'. In the school records the plaintiff's caste is shown to be 'Gowda'.

The trial court while dismissing the suits held that plaintiffs have a remedy before the caste verification committee where they can seek redressal of their grievance and seek correction of the school records including caste certificate. The court held that relief of mandatory injunction to rectify the school records cannot be agitated before the Civil Court. It said that it had no jurisdiction to issue a mandatory injunction to rectify the school records and that the plaintiffs have to approach the committee constituted by the State Government.

The bench on perusal of the aforesaid order said “If plaintiffs restricted their claim to relief of mandatory injunction, plaintiffs are entitled to seek adjudication and substantiate that they are entitled to relief of mandatory injunction. The bar in regard to adjudication of the caste certificate being not the subject matter of the suit, this Court is more than satisfied that the bar under Section 9 has no application to the present case on hand."

"Civil Court's competency to entertain the relief of mandatory injunction based on a caste certificate is not expressly barred. The jurisdiction of civil Court to which the right to decide the lis between the parties has been conferred can only be taken by statute in specific terms and such exclusion of right cannot be easily inferred because there is always a strong presumption that civil Courts have the jurisdiction to decide all questions of civil nature,"  it added

The Bench noted that the statute does not provide any mechanism to align the caste of students in school records in conformity with the caste certificate issued by the Tahsildar. Therefore, the Civil Court was very much competent to entertain the relief of the mandatory injunction, it said.

The bench also opined that the possibility of discrepancies in school records was a legitimate ground for seeking judicial intervention and underscored the importance of ensuring accuracy and reliability in official documents. The Court reaffirmed the foundational principles of access to justice and the right to seek redressal of grievances before the competent Civil Court.

 “The civil Court as a guardian of individual rights and liberties, stands ready to adjudicate upon matters within its jurisdiction and to provide appropriate remedy in accordance with law,” it said.

Accordingly, it allowed the appeal and directed the respondents to submit a proposal to the concerned authority to correct the caste in the school records/college records and directed it to scrutinise the proposal by taking cognizance of the caste certificate issued by the jurisdictional Tahsildar and accordingly amend the caste of plaintiffs in all relevant documents.

Appearance: Advocate Murugesh V Charati for Appellants.

HCGP Anukanksha Kalkeri For R1, R7 & R8.

Citation No: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 133

Case Title: Alfa S AND The Chief Secretary & Others

Case No: R.S.A.NO. 359 OF 2022 (DEC/INJ) C/W R.S.A.NO. 340 OF 2022

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