Caste Certificate Issued By Taluka Development Officer Is Valid, Not Violative Of Gujarat SC/ST Act 2018: High Court Dismisses PIL

The Gujarat High Court recently dismissed a PIL challenging a government order which permitted Taluka Development Officer, who is an officer under the Panchayat Department, to issue caste certificates under the Gujarat Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes (Regulations of Issuance and Verification of Caste Certificates) Act, 2018.

The petitioner-Trust had challenged the GO stating that caste certificate can be issued only by the Revenue Authorities not below the rank of Mamlatdar. It was argued that by way of the impugned order of the State authorities, there was a dilution of the stringent provisions of law in issuing caste certificates.

Dismissing the challenge, a Bench comprising of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri remarked,

"This communication which is being issued by the Commissioner, Tribal Development, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar is noway can be said to be illegal in any form as it is issued for the purpose of carrying out the object of the Parent Act and for effective and proper implementation of the provisions of the Act."

The petitioner had also contended that the powers to issue the certificate could be exercised only up to a period of three years. Therefore, the impugned notification was valid only till 25.02.2022. The notification has ignored this duration and therefore, dehors the provisions of the Parent Act. It was essentially sought that all the certificates issued under the umbrella of the impugned orders be declared illegal.

To address this contention, the Bench noted that 'competent authority' under Section 2(b) of the Parent Act was empowered to examine the application made under Section 3 and after satisfying itself about the genuineness of the application, the authority could issue the certificate. There were several provisions in the Act which provided for the issuance and the cancellation of the certificates and challenging the decision of the authority concerning the same. The impugned order (Annexure A) was enacted by the State of Gujarat and there seemed to be no conflict between the Act of 2018 and the Parent Act. The order was issued in exercise of powers under 19(1) of the Act of 2018 which did not have diluting effect on the objective or provisions of the Parent Act.