SATISH RAMAKRISHNA RAO Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is treated as having been posted for hearing and I have heard the learned counsel for the parties.

(2.) The petitioner claiming to be a member of Scheduled Caste in that he belongs to Kotegar caste has claimed the benefit of reservation for admission to the Engineering Degree course for the academic year 1980-81. He was selected from the quota reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and allotted to the Malnad Engineering College. He joined the Engineering course in 1980 for the academic year 1980-81. He is now in the final year of B.E. Course in the said college and it is submitted at the Bar that he has completed the Engineering course. However, the 2nd respondent. Director of Technical Education, acting on the basis of a police complaint and investigation in that behalf proposed to cancell the admission of the petitioner to the Engineering course in question on the ground he had obtained a false Caste Certificate from the authorities in question in order to reap the benefit of reservations made for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner at this stage has approached this Court for a declaration that he comes under the classification of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe being a member of Kotegar Caste and, therefore, the proposed action against him is forbidden by law.

(3.) In support of the contention that Kotegar community is treated as Scheduled Caste community, the learned counsel for the petitioner has relied on a book edited by E. Thurston, Superintendent, Madras Government Museum, on Castes and Tribes of Southern India. It is found at page 362 of the said book that Kotegar community is also known as Servegara and it said to be "a branch of the Konkan Marathis of Goa from whence they are invited by the Lingavat Kings of Nagara to serve as soldiers and to defend their forts (kote), whence the alternative name of Koteyava (or Gotegara). Another name for them is Ramakshatri. The mother-tongue of the Servegaras in South Kanara is Canarese, while their brethren in the north speak Konkani. They have now taken to cultivation, but some are employed in the Revenue and Police departments as peons (orderlies) and constables, and a 5ew are shopkeepers. The name Servegara is derived from the Canarese serve, an army........