RUMY CHOWDHURY Vs. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning Office Orders dated 26.11.2015 and 07.03.2017, to the extent that the said Office Orders require the applicant to produce a caste certificate of a relative from the paternal side, for the purpose of issuance of a caste certificate. The petitioner also impugns an order dated 31.07.2019, whereby the petitioner's request for caste certificates in respect of her two children (boys aged above 17 years and 15 years) has been rejected.

(2.) The petitioner is a senior officer of the Indian Air Force. She claims that she hails from the State of Assam. She claims that she belongs to the bania community, which she asserts is a Scheduled Caste in the State of Assam.

(3.) The petitioner was married in the year 1999 to a person belonging to a forward caste. Subsequently, matrimonial disputes arose between the petitioner and her husband and she filed for divorce in the year 2005. The petitioner's marriage was ultimately dissolved in the year 2009. The petitioner states that her children, who were then aged 4 years and 1 year, have been living with her since then. She also asserts that the said children had never lived in the company of their father, who has since remarried.