R.KARTHIK Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner's grievance is about Exts.P13 and P14 proceedings, by which his request for issuance of community certificate as Hindu -Pallan was rejected by the third respondent and confirmed in appeal by the second respondent. The essential facts are as under;

(2.) Adv.Varun C.Vijay, learned Counsel for the petitioner, contended that the impugned decisions are ex facie illegal, as they were passed without considering the crucial fact that, from birth onwards, the petitioner had grown up as a Hindu-Pallan. This fact stands proved by the entries in the admission register and the caste certificates issued over the years. It is submitted that, merely because a person has married from a different community or has shifted his residence, his community status will not get altered. To bolster the contention, reliance was placed on the decision in Jyothsna A v. Kerala Public Service Commission, Tvm and others [2022 (1) KHC 401] and reference made to the following extract from the Writings and Speeches of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar (Volume-I).

(3.) Finally, it is contended that the findings in Ext.P13 are entirely based on Ext.P18 report submitted by the Village Officer, Nedumpana. Attention is drawn to Ext.P18 to point out that complete absence of any adverse observation in the report, other than an observation that the petitioner's wife is also from Hindu-Ezhava community. Therefore, the factual findings in Ext.P13 are faulty and Ext.P14 was issued noticing this crucial defect.